No.  1.  (Conlaining  12  Letters  )  I'rirc 


LETTERS 


FROM 


EUROPE. 


BY  J.  STEPHENSON  DU  SOLI.E, 


EDITOR  OF  THE  SPIRIT  OF  TlIK   J'lMKS. 


WITH   A   PORTRAIT   OF   THE    AUTHOR 


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O.Si<>"' 


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7'S  Puyal .  l.Uh.Phil'- 


'^'"^^ 


LETTERS 


FROM 


EUROPE 


BY  J.  STEPHENSON  DU  SOLLE, 


EDITOR  OF  THE  SPIRIT  OF  THE  TIMES. 


WITH    A    PORTRAIT    OF    THE    AUTHOR. 


%%%  %vm^%  %\'wm.^ 


No.  32  South  Thiup  Street, 


Philadelpliia: 
1846. 


^  1 4-.  ?.  1 


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I,  i:  T  T  ERS 


rW 


FROM    EUROPE. 


1845-6. 


NO.  I. 

The  Sea- Voyage— Peculiarities  of  the  "Great 
Weep" — Curious  Contpanioiis — Tlie  Ilouri- 
Ilunter— Sea-Sickness— The  "Infallible  Anti- 
dote"— Xaulical  Witticisms— The  Ghost  of  the 
i'ig— Sea  and  Shore,  ice.  &c. 

Liverpool,  5th  Nov.,  1845 
We  arrived  here  a  few  minutes  ago,  after  a 
passage  at  once  prolonged  and  disagreeable — a 
passage  of  nearly  six  weeks,  unusually  diver- 
sified with  boisterous  storms,  violent  head- 
winds, dead  calms,  and  all  the  other  distressing 
accompaniments  that  characterize  the  intro- 
duction of  the  unsophisticated  to  a  "  lil'e  on  the 
ocean- wave,"  with  all  its  uncomfortable  pecu- 
liarities. 

As  the  Steamer,  much  to  our  mortification, 
left  yesterday,  passing  us  iu  the  Channel,  whero 
ead-winds  detained  us  a  week,  we  lost  ihe 
'    expected  opportunity  of   transmitting   by  her 
even  a  single  chapter  of  tribulations.    The  pre- 
sent steamer  enables  us   to  hold  a  somewhat 
Klmore  regular  communion  with  our  far-oil'  but 
^ear,  "  our  own,  our  native  land." 
•^  _  And  here,  in  the  outset,  permit  us,  dear  read- 
er, tenderly  to  inquire  if,  in  the  course  of  your 
iife,  you  have  ever  imbibed  any  of  that  species 
pf  practical  knowledge  a  vivid  idea  of  whicn 
h,  or  ought  to  be  conveyed,  in  the  familiar  ex- 
Tj)res6ion  ol  "going  to  sea"?     Have  you  ever, 
f  Jn  an  unguarded  moment,  contemplated   with 
.^resolution  the  chance  of  placing  yourself  and 
~^our    "  body  corporal"  at  the  mercy  of    thai 
"  great  deep"  in  whose  constancy  experience 
"^  authorizes  us  to  repose  as  little  confidence  as 
the  Good  Book  tells  us  is  due  to  the  faiih  of 
»*prince8,"  or  as  Peter  Brush  assures  us, can  only, 
in  a  republic  like  our  own,  be  extended  to 


«'  politicianers,"  when  we  are  disposed  to  enjoy 
the  luxury  of  a  "  hysi"  ? 

Have  you  ever,  for  an  instant,  while  Appre- 
hension, bavins?  feasied  upon  the  rum-cherries 
of  H>)pe,  indu  ged  in  the  inebriate's  sleep,  and 
Fancy  remained  as  wide-awake  and  vivacious 
as  an  eel  is  said  to  ket-p  uself  while  the  fish- 
women  are  relieving  ii  of  its  cuticle  :  have  you 
ever,  at  such  a  perilou:^  crisis,  entertained  with 
complacency  the  thought  of  putting  yourself,  for 
weeks,  on  the  verge  of  a  watery  grave,  for  the 
mere  satisfaction  of  gazing  into  it,  and  ascer- 
taining precisely  the  dilFf  rence  between  bocom- 
iog  '■'  food  for  worms"  and  provender  for 
fishes? 

Have  you  gone  still  further  and  played  the 
philosopher?  for  we  maintain  of  the  Sea  as 
the  Fr>  nch  writer  did  of  the  House  ot  Correc- 
tion, viz  :  that  "  he  who  goes  once  to  ii  may 
go  by  accident ;  he  who  goes  twice  may  go  as 
a  philosopher ;  but  he  who  goes  a  third  time 
mti>t,be  either  a  dunce  or  a  madman":  have 
you  ever  thu.<(  worshipped  at  the  shrine  of  phi- 
losophy ?  If  aye,  why  then  you  are  acquaint- 
ed with  ships  :  you  are  qualified,  peradventure, 
to  become  a  "  skipper,"  and  may  incontinently 
jump  this  initial  episile  We  have  nothing 
yet  to  add  to  your  stock  of  instruction. 

But,  if  you  be  one  who  has  had  the  sagacity 
to  «'  let  well  enough  alone";  if  you  have  templ- 
ed the  Sea,  as  Ciiampagne  tempts  the  palate  of 
the  penniless,  only  through  the  assistance  ot 
a  lively  imagiuation;  if  you  have  not  suffered 
yourself  to  be  alienated  from  the  cooil'orts  of 
home,  and  "  tiansported"  in  obedience  to  the 
despotic  behests  of  Fushiuii,  like  the  old  lellow 
who. 


^45311 


DU  SOLLE'S 


*' aWiouuli  he  was  n't  rirh. 

Siill  thuuubt  biiiisell  a  i^entleiiiuQ 
And  wouliJ  Tjcliavu  as  sicli ;" 


if  you  have  remained  prudently  at  home  where 
your  head  and  your  stomach  could  conduct 
themselves  with  becoming  Ciirisiiaa  propriety 
— where  the  one  would  not  be  constantly 
•'swimming,"  en  amateAir,  as  if  anticipating  a 
bout  with  the  fishes,  and  painfully  conscious  of 
being  the  w«ighliest  part  of  the  human  system, 
nor  the  other,  with  annoying  fastidiousness, 
pertinaciously  "throwing  up"  to  you  your  daily 
indulgences  however  abstemious:  if  you  be  such, 
read  on  !  our  melancholy  reminiscences  may 
warn,  if  not  serve  to  amuse  you:  "  Les  sou- 
venirs, madame,  sont  sans  prix." 

In  fact,  our  brief  acquaintance  with  the  Sea 
has  been,  to  us,  all-sufficient.  It  has  been,  as 
a  French  lady-passenger  on  board  the  same 
vessel  naively  expressed  it,  "  delightfully  dis- 
gusting," and  we  feel  no  particular  anxiety,  at 
present,  to  extend  the  intimacy.  Yet  its  un- 
pleasantness was  mitigated,  occasionally,  by 
ludicrous  scenes  that  extracted  from  us  many  a 
hearty  laugh  in  the  very  midst  of  our  suller- 
ings.  We  had  on  board  about  ninety  steerage 
passengers  returning  to  the  land  of  their  child- 
hood, and  their  frolics  on  deck,  for  they  had 
anythmg  but  a  Paradise  below,  were  most 
amusing.  Then,  again,  we  had  also  along  a 
sapient  pig,  and  a  fecetious  duck,  both  of  which 
were  remarkably  fond  of  rum.  Their  absurdly 
human  performances,  when  intoxicated  every 
day  by  some  one  of  the  inhabitants  of  our 
miniature  world,  were  irresistible,  even  while 
they  saddened  one  by  their  mute  but  eloquent 
commentary  upon  human  infirmities.  The  pig, 
in  one  of  his  vagaries,  fell  down  the  hatchway 
and  fractured  a  leg.  This  accident,  singularly 
enough,  cured  him  of  his  appetite  for  liquor. 
He  never  could  be  induced.,  atlerwards,  to  "put 
an  enemy  into  his  mouth"  to  rob  him  of  his 
little  wit  and  his  activity.  The  duck  which, 
by  the  way,  was  familiarly  known  as  "  Jenny 
Green,"  continued,  however,  to  imbibe  pota- 
tions "pottle  deep."  The  admonitory  "quack  ! 
quack !"  of  her  partner,  a  solemn-looking  drake 
who  utterly  eschewed  the  blandishments  of  the 
bottle,  were  of  no  avail ;  and  the  mysterious, 
semi-rational  manner  in  which,  with  head  on 
one  side,  and  eye  significant  of  profound  sur- 
prise and  contempt,  he  would  gaze  upon  Jen 
ny's  abortive  eflbrts  to  preserve  a  respectable 
perpendicular,  provoked  many  a  smile  on  what 
would  otherwise  have  been  very  lugubrious 
countenances. 

We  possessed,  besides,  another  curiosity  in 

the  shape  of  a  young  gentleman  witha"pekoo- 

liar  liihp  ''     Now  we  ag'ee  with  the  song  that, 

in  lisping, 

" there's  soinctliini;  iiiiroiiiinou, 

AdiI  a  lisp,  iu  iiarlir'Iar,  is  swcot  in  a  woiiian  ;" 

but,  in  one  of  the  "boots  and  boaver"  gender 
Ibe  adcclution  is  "tolerable  and  not  to  be  en- 
dured "     His  display  of  vanity  uud  verdancy 


too,  were  exquisitely  refreshing.  He  had 
abandoned  hi-i  country,  be  assured  us,  because 
his  "too  thutheptib'e  heart"  was  about  to  ren- 
der him  a  victim  to  the  wiles  of  "theven  lan- 
guithing  young  creatures"  whom  the  law  would 
not  permit  him  legitimately  to  possess  in  the  ag- 
gregate, and  whom  he  said  it  would  be  "thuilhi- 
dal"  to  own,  as  worshippers,  one  at  a  lime. 
A  curious  heart  must  be  our  fellow-passenger's! 
But,  after  all,  as  the  sympathetic  Mr.  Pecksniff 
observes,  in  "Martin  Chuzzlewit,"  the  "heart 
is  not  always  a  royal  mint,  with  patent  ma- 
chinery, to  work  its  metal  into  current  coin. 
Sometimes  it  throws  it  out  in  strange  forms, 
not  easily  recognized  as  coin  at  all."  Who 
knows,  therefore,  but  that  the  "thutheptible" 
organ  of  our  friend  iu  question  is  a  very  good 
one,  although,  perhaps,  one  of  those  old-fashion- 
ed machines  which,  in  the  olden  time,  was  sup- 
posed to  be  capable  of  distributing  its  alTeclioDa 
among  as  many  wives  as  its  owner  could  find 
board,  lodging  and  work  for,  without  pecuniary 
inconvenience?  Be  that  as  it  may,  our  friend 
was  actually  en  route  for  Constantinople,  where 
he  had  been  informed  "beautiful  Houris"  were 
to  be  obtained  on  moderate  terms,  and  a  "few 
of  which"  he  was  seriously  resolved  to  own  if 
they  could  be  had,  to  use  his  own  words,  "for 
either  love  or  the  pewter" — two  commodities 
he  professed  to  be  abundantly  supplied  with. 

He  was  a  sweet  youth,  that  passenger  !  The 
Captain  pronounced  him  a  "decided  cross  be- 
twixt a  Cologne-bottle  and  a^man-milliner,"  for 
he  was  as  "spruce"  as  the  beer  so  much  relished 
in  the  dog-days  by  the  juvenile  economists  of 
Philadelphia,  while  his  habiliments  always  ex- 
uded the  odor  of  a  remarkable  intimacy  with 
our  neighbor  Roussel,  of  the  same  city.  How- 
ever, great  men  have  their  failings.  Even 
Richelieu,  the  splendid  statesmen,  alTecled  the 
bea7t  garon,  as  well  as  the  wit  and  the  critic, 
and  why  not  our  passenger  ? 

"Bleth  my  soul,  Captain,"  said  he,  coming  on 
deck  about  noon  of  the  second  day  out,  with 
the  countenance  of  one  nerved  to  some  despe- 
rate resolution  ;  "bleth  my  thoul,  captain,"  he 
began,  "but  thiih  ith  a  motht  uneathy  veihel." 

"Perhaps,  my  dear  sir,  it  is  your  stomach 
that  is  uneasy." 

"Ah !    yeth,  but,  cuth  it  '    captain "  and 

here,  what  more  he  would  have  said  was  cut 
off  by  a  hasty  rush  to  the  side  of  the  ship,  where 
he  "poured  out  his  libathion  to  Neptune,"  as  he 
poetically  phrased  it,  with  a  signiticancy  that 
amply  expressed  his  feelings  in  the  absence  of 
language. 

It  seems  that  it  had  been  his  intentiou  to 
request  the  captain  to  take  in  those  "little 
anti-republican  thails,"  (i.  e.  royals,)  at  the 
mast-heads  which  he  suspected  gave  so  much 
laierul  motion  of  the  vessel,  or  at  least  to  "put 
out  ilioiiic  ropes  and  keep  all  thnug  and  quiet'' 
lor  just  one  evening,  for  his  aucommodatiou ! 


1 


LETTERS. 


He  waB  excespivtly  sea-sick,  to  be  sure ; 
and  so  were  we.  fa  our  own  case,  we  really 
concluded  lliat  the  accumulated  bile  of  a  <iuar- 
ter  of"  a  century  had  been  manumitted  at  once, 
and  was  determined  upon  maintaining,  every 
day,  in  our  "in'ards,"  a  sort  of  Fourth  of  July 
celebration  of  its  independence.  And  lei  no 
one  presume  to  speak  of  the  mal  de  mer  with 
unbocomiug  indilference.  It  is  the  most  inde- 
scribable, as  well  as  the  most  despicable  of 
human  disorders,  and  withal,  like  the  tooth- 
ache, begets  no  sympathy.  We  counted  one  af- 
ternoon forty-six  persons  of  both  sexes  leaning 
over  the  ship's  gunwale,  and  all  "  casting  up 
accounts"  at  once,  with  the  facility  of  so 
many  Zerah  Colbourns,  Tliere  was  not  a  dry 
eye  on  board,  at  the  sight.  Nor  could  we  help 
laughing  ourself  whenever  Nature,  in  her  pa. 
cific  intervals,  would  permit  us  to  make  a  re. 
spectable  use  of  our  risible  faculties.  To  see 
so  many  and  such  varied  countenances,  at  the 
same  moment,  down-turned  with  loathing  or 
up-turned  in  despair,  and  each  the  very  perso. 
nification  of  helpless  nausea  as  regarded  itself, 
and  helpless  mirth  as  regarded  its  neighbor, 
was  too  exquisite  a  picture  to  go  unconteni. 
plated. 

In  truth  it  is  a  curious  malady,  that  of  the 
Sea !  Our  lisping  friend  remarked,  in  his 
agony,  that,  <<cuth  it,"  he  was  prepared  to  ex- 
change places  with  any  dog !  Of  course  he 
meant  with  any  respectable  dog — a  butcher's 
dog,  for  instance — but  we  did  not  quite  reach 
that  anii-climax  of  self-re^pect.  We  confess, 
on  reflection,  that  in  the  worst  phases  of  our 
emotion,  (and  "our  suflerings  was  intolerable,") 
we  would  not  have  consented  to  exchange  con- 
ditions with  any  half-dczen  dogs — unless  they 
had  been  very  jolly  dogs  indeed. 

But  what  increased  the  chagrin  of  "cuth-it," 
(a  name  which,  as  the  result  of  his  frequent 
use  of  ihat  delicate  expletive,  our  odoriterous 
companion  was  soon  familiarly  known  by,  and 
no  oiher,)  was  the  total  failure  of  an  antidote 
for  sea-sickness  that  he  had  brought  with  him 
in  the  shape  of  a  handful  of  the  American  soil, 
a  smell  or  two  at  which,  he  had  coaxed  him- 
self to  believe,  would  banish  old  Diabolus  him- 
self, were  he  to  venture  sea-ward  in  the  gui^e 
of  a  gastrotiomic  disturbance.  However,  the 
"American  Soil"  was  carefully  watered  every 
day,  (and  it  did  our  heart  good  to  look  at  the 
fresh  symbol  of  Freedom  )  its  owner  declaring 
that,  if  in  no  other  way  to  be  inaJe  useful,  he 
could  take  it  to  Europe  and  "thinell  ith  bleth- 
thed  republicanilhm"  whenever  he  became  dis- 
gusted with  royal  ways  and  courtly  manners. 

Our  passage  was  a  very  rough  and  stormy 
one,  and  it  was  necessarily  impossible  for  any 
one  to  whom  the  situation  was  at  all  novel,  t© 
enjoy  the  least  repose.  Our  desired  course  was 
easterly,  but  through  the  long  and  dreary  hours 
of  night  the  listening  ear  could  detect  nothing 


in  the  response*?  of  the  hclmomnn  besidws 
<<3ou',"  or  "Sou'  West,"  or  "Hou'  Sou'  West," 
or  "Sou'  West  by  Sou',"  or  e(|ually  forbidding 
intelligence.  Our  lisping  beau  was  exaspera- 
ted almost  to  madness  by  these  "she .pork"  re. 
iterations,  as  he  bitterly  den<'minated  them. 

"The  thailors  ihay,"  he  whispered  to  us,  in 
a  voice  choking  with  anguish,  "that  tliome  of 
their  interethting  ihweethearts  ashore  have  put 
a  'black  cat  under  the  tub,'  to  occathion  thuch 
contrary  winds;  but  cuth  it !"  he  ejaculated, 
"it  rautht  be  a  black  yig,  and  we  are  being 
haunted,  in  these  winds,  by  the  gholht  of  iih 
dithcontholate  mother." 

We  laughed  and  suggested  that,  in  such  a 
case,  the  ship  stood  a  very  slender  chance  of 
"saving  its  bacon." 

A  sudden  plunge  of  the  vessel  at  this  mo- 
ment enabled  three  or  four  of  us  to  accon:pli6h 
a  rather  decent  but  unpremeditated  somerset. 

"On  my  thoul,"  said  our  companion,  who 
was  the  first  on  his  feet  again,  "  ihilh  ith  too 
bad.  I  don't  tho  much  objec-t  to  the  thmell  of 
tar,  but  the  'pitch'  of  thith  vethel,  cuth  it!  is 
very  annoying"  His  grief  had  grown  'pun'- 
gent 

"Yeth,"  he  murmured  to  himself,  as  he  took 
up  his  light  10  ret. re  for  the  night,  "the  thip 
wath  no  doubt  built  in  'leap'-year,  and  ith  de- 
termined to  jump  the  whole  diibtance  between 
here  and  Liverpool."  And  we  were  soon  so- 
lus. 

It  is  wonderful  how  we  all  love  to  torture 
that  which  is  torturablf!  Men  and  dogs,  we 
believe,  for  the  credit  of  Nature  be  it  said,  are 
the  only  animals  that  refine  this  cruelty  by 
loving  to  torture  their  own  kind.  On  board 
our  ship  poor  "Cuth  it"  was  made  the  subject 
of  a  world  of  practical  waggeries,  and  not  a 
day  passed  that  did  not  develope  some  crude 
jest  at  his  expense.  If  he  undertook  to  fish 
for  mackarel  with  a  piece  of  red  flannel  for 
bait,  he  was  certain  to  pull  up  a  salt  codfish 
that,  in  his  absence,  had  mysteriously  taken  its 
place  If  the  ship  liirchtid  heavily  he  was 
petrified  by  being  told  it  was  "only  a  rock," 
(by-the-way,  it  is  no  wonder  that  children  are 
appalled  to  sleep,  in  a  cradle;)  and  we  shall 
never  forget  his  countenance  of  niter  dismay, 
when  gravely  a.ssnred  that  such  was  the  charac- 
ter of  the  seamen  on  board,  it  was  necessary 
to  "call  the  watch"  several  limes  every  night! 
without  enlightening  him  as  to  the  nautical  sig- 
nification of  the  expression. 

Indeed,  without  our  amusing  fellow  voy- 
ager the  passage  would  have  been  lanuntably 
uninteresting,  for  a  more  mDnolonous  life  than 
that  on  ship  board,  with  its  daily  ronime  of 
mechanical  duties  and  its  unrelieved  pro.'^pect 
of  clouds  and  water,  cannot  well  be  conjec- 
tureil.  To  be  sure,  the  first  few  days  afforded 
a  thousand  objects  '.o  awaken  or  gratify  the 
atteutioQ  of  one  uninitiated;  aud  when,  oa  the 


DU  SOLLE  S 


(second  day  out,  we  rose  eaily  to  behold,  for 
the  first  time,  the  sun  rise  on  a  perfectly  land- 
less oeean,  the  view  we  admit,  (for  it  was 
blowing  a  gale,)  was  fearfully  sublime.  Indeed, 
we  detected  ourselt  lurning  the  terrible  pros- 
pect into  a  'werse.'  Wes-pare  our  readers  the 
result  of  our  metrical  reflections. 

But,  even  the  vnstness  of  the  sea  soon  grew 
familiar,  and  then  all  the  disagreeable  pecu- 
liarities of  our  prison-house  became  gradually 
more  apparent.  At  a  very  early  day  "the  cow 
went  ashore,"  or  in  other  words  our  stock  of 
milk  was  exhausted,  and  the  sea-dijhes,  how- 
ever good,  were  not  the  most  particularly 
adapted  in  the  world  to  provoke  an  appetite, 
even  in  a  more  tranquil  state  of  the  digestive 
organs. 

After  all,  there  is  nothing  like  terra-firma  for 
comfort,  and  the  agrenuvs  of  life.  On  shore, 
objects  will,  generally  speaking,  stand  still  to 
be  looked  at;  and  as  to  the  winds,  it  is  a  mat- 
ter of  indiffrirence  there  whence  they  come, 
since  "close  quarters"  is  the  only  quarter  from 
which  danger  is  to  be  apprehended.  The  sailor 
may  sing,  as  sailors  do  sing — for  we  heard  one 
sing  it  the  other  night  as  he  sat  under  the  lee 
of  the  foremast,  when  it  was  blowing,  (to  use 
the  language  of  his  companion,)  like  "forty 
Aurora  Borealises  tied  up  in  a  bowline" — the 
sailor  may  sing 

■'A  strong  North-ERstcr's  blowing,  Bill, 
Hailil  don't  you  lieiir  it  roar,  now? 

Lord  help  'cm!  Ijow  I  pities  all, 
Unhappy  folks  ashore,  now:" 

but,  bless  you!  a  sailor's  opinion  of  "land-ed 
security"  is  purely  of  the  "Arabian  Nights'" 
order  of  logical  architecture;  and  the  idea  of 
falling  chimney-pois  in  an  October  breeze, 
"strikes  more  terror  to  the  soul  of  Richard,"  (if 
his  name  happen  to  be  Bill  on  the  ship's  arti- 
cles,) than  would  all  the  dread  realiiies  of  a 
hurricane  on  a  lee-shore,  with  the  bona-fide 
Scylla  and  Charybdis  playfully  inviting  him  in 
the  distanse. 

No,  no;  give  us  the  steady  shore  for  our  home 
The  sun  may  not  rise  as  gloriously  there  as 
when  he  wakes  up  the  misty  waters  with  his 
b'ight  laugh,  and  makes  thfm  glitter  like  so 
many  paths  of  lapis  lazuli,  nor  loi  k  as  gay,  per. 
hrtps,as  when  he  flashes  witii  his  evening  pur- 
ple the  foamy  waves,  that  seem  to  be  puitmg 
on  their  little  cotton  night  caps,  and  rolling  over 
each  oth-r,  like  playful  urchins,  into  bed.  We 
may  not  have,  ashore,  the  consolation  of  the 
"jolly  old  cock,  who  was  cast  on  a  rock" — 

"I  don't  care  a  riirse, 

It  might  have  been  worsp. 

This  jolly  oM  coik,  say'ahe; 
I've  g'  t  a  K<'od  hunoh 
That  will  do  for  my  lunch, 

And  A  BEAUTIFUL  VUiW  OF  THE  SEAI" 

But  then  we  have  the  fresh  scent  of  flowers! 
the  merry  song  of  the  b'rdsl  the  quiet  sleep 
o'nigh's  on  soraelhiiisf  besides  what  an  Irish 
(riend  at  our  elbow  calls  "seven-foot  fea- 
thers," {i.  e.  straW;)  and  the  nice  cup  of  choco- 


late in  the  mornings,  with  no  lack  of  milk 
wherewith  to  "whitewash  the  cocoa,"  as  aa 
English  varlet  a  few  minutes  ago  denominated 
it,  while  eulogizing  "pleasant  lodgings,"  to 
convey  us  to  which  he  demanded,  in  the  same 
vernacular,  a  "bob  and  a  tizzy" — meaning 
thereby,  in  plain  English,  one  and  sixpence. 

We  were  about  to  say  more,  but  the  land  we 
write  in  is  not  the  prettiest  at  this  season.  A 
thick  fog  obscures  the  sun.  The  sky  is  Bot 
exactly  as  "brilliant  as  the  shells  on  Cerigo's 
shores  after  the  binh  of  Venu«,"  and  the  land- 
lady says  "the  gentleman"  must  purchase  a 
red  comforter  directly  for  bis  neck,  if  we  do 
not  wish  to  die  of  the  "catarrhums  "  So  aa 
abrupt  adieu  for  the  present.         Du  Solle. 

NO.   II. 

First  impression  of  Liverpool — Tboiv;hts  of 
Home— Effect  of  Distance  an'l  Absence— The 
streets,  houses,  women,  &c.— The  Docks  anil 
the  Duties — The  Custom-house — Seizure  of 
Boolts— Speaking  "good  English" — An  inter- 
esting Incident. 

Liverpool,  Sth  Nov.,  1845. 
Our  first  day  in  Europe.'  How  strange,  and 
yet  how  familiar  appear  all  that  we  see  around 
Us!  What  curious  houses!  What  curious  peo- 
ple! What  curious  streets!  Yet,  in  sober,  plain 
truth,  they  are  the  very  houses,  the  very  people 
and  the  very  streets  rendered  common  to  our 
memory  by  books,  and  our  eyes  by  the  theatre. 
The  buildings  and  the  streets  which,  from  time 
immemorial  have  preserved  their  uniqueness 
upon  the  canvass  scenes  of  the  American 
stage,  resembling  nothing  like  the  buildings 
and  streets  seen  in  American  cities,  are,  we 
discover,  the  "counterfeit  presentment"  of 
those  that  now  encounter  our  eyes  in  every 
direction.  This  makes  the  singularity  of  the 
latter  piquant,  but  it  ^aJden6  every  reflection 
with  a  thought  of  our  far-otfhome.  We  never 
more  forcibly  feel  our  aliection  for  our  native 
land  than  when  distant  from  its  shores  The 
heart  which,  indeed,  seems  to  "drag  at  each 
remove  a  lengthening  chain,"  buries  all  local 
animosities.  The  very  men  and  the  very 
measures,  that  we  hare  for  years  so  studiously 
combatted  and  exposed,  somehow  appear  en- 
deared to  u*  becau::e  belonging  to  the  country 
we  call  "our  own;"  and  the  very  mention  of 
their  names,  or  the  casual  meeting  with  allu- 
sions to  them  in  the  English  press,  (we  can 
scarcely  find  a  ne^-spaper  from  the  U.  States.) 
stirs  up  in  one's  bosom  a  sensation  which,  if 
not  one  of  fondness,  would  be  mistaken  for  it 
by  the  most  sagacious  mental  police  in  Chris- 
tendom. Away  from  home,  we  naluraily  look 
at  its  imperfections  through  the  concave  lens 
of  Memory's  telescope,  thus  diminis-hing  each 
dark  cloud  to  an  almost  indistineuishable  point, 
or  beholding  it  only  as  the  shadow  that  gives 
harmony  to  the  general  view — the  spot  upon 


LETTERS. 


the  sun  that  nflects  not  its  glorious  day-beam, 
yet  bespeaks  ils  common  heriiage  of  infirmity. 
As  far  as  the  love  of  one's  country  is  con- 
cerned, the  aphorism  is  not  true  that  it  is  di- 
minished by  either  time  or  travel.  Perhaps, 
however,  much  depends  on  the  nature  of  that 
love;  and,  atter  all,  Rochefoucauld  may  be  cor- 
rect in  the  asferlion  that,  "absience  duninishes 
small  passions  and  augments  great  ones,  as 
the  wind  extinguishes  candles  and  gives  addi- 
tional energy  to  conflagrations:"  a  very  striking 
illustration. 

But,  <<  let  us  return  to  our  muttons,"  to  use 
a  Gallicism,  and  a  truce  to  philosophy  for  the 
present.  Let  us  look  around  us.  We  are  con- 
fident that  we  have  seen  before,  those  frown- 
ing walls — these  embellished  fronts— this  ornate 
style  of  window — that  classic  pile;  nay,  yon- 
der buxom  housemaid,  with  rufiled  cap  on 
head,  (all  the  female  domestics  wear  caps  here,) 
and  round,  plump  arms  bared  to  the  elbow, 
who  trips  by  with  rosy  cheeks  that,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Scripture,  "  stand  out  with  fatness," 
(indicative  of  plenty  of  beer  or  very  little 
botheration,)  methinks  she  is  no  stranger  to  our 
vision.  Yes,  we  have  seen  all — but,  it  was 
upon  <<  the  boards,"  and  the  Abigail  was  then 
"en  costume."  Those  dark  red  sails,  too,  that 
we  beheld  this  morning  in  the  harbor :  how 
often  have  we  smiled  at  them  in  pictures ! 
How  often  have  wo  wondered  that  the  artist 
had  chosen  such  a  dingy  color  for  efiect,  little 
dreaming  that  they  existed  out  of  the  painter's 
imagmation.  That  hue  is  really  given  them 
to  preserve  them  from  the  destructive  effects 
of  the  city's  smoke— and  Liverpool  of  the  sun- 
niest day  is  little  betierlhan  "darkness  visible.'' 
The  bituminous  coal  in  universal  use  here, 
emits  a  smoke  from  fifty  thousand  chimnies  at 
once,  many  of  them,  (those  of  manufactories,) 
six'y  feet  high,  that  effectually  places  the  genu- 
ine daylight  "  hors  de  combat,"  and  substitutes 
a  dim,  fogiiy  medium  of  sight,  very  conveni- 
ent^ possibly,  to  weak  eyes,  but  not  so  well 
adapted  to  clear  views  and  clean  habiliments. 

Yet,  Liverpool  is  an  interesting  city.  The 
multitude  of  shipping;  the  number  of  ocean- 
steamers  momentarily  arriving  and  departing; 
the  steam-tugs,  (tow-boats,)  bringing  in  or 
conveying  out  the  legion  of  merchant  ves- 
sels bearing  the  flags  of  every  trafTicking 
nation  in  the  world  ;  the  ferry-boats  crossing 
and  recrossing  the  harbor,  and  looking  black- 
er and  homelier  than  anything  of  the  kind  in 
America  :  all  these  speak  a  lesson  of  trade 
and  industry  not  yet  vouchsafed  in  full  to  our 
young  republic,  and  would  make  us  feel  thu 
we  were  among  strangers,  even  did  we  not 
hear  about  us  voices  that  use  a  tongue  recog- 
nized from  childhood,  but  use  it  how  different- 
ly !  and  did  we  not  inhale  for  an  atmosphere, 
a  thick  amalgam  of  gas  and  humidity,  that  one's 
lungs  alojost  refuse  to  consider  a  legitimate 


aliment,  and  one's  nostrils  take  pains  signifi- 
cantly to  "sneeze  at"  on  all  occaoions.  Liver- 
pool is,  nevertheless,  the  beau  ideal  of  com- 
mercial cities.  There  is  scarcely  a  spot  in  its 
vicinity  that  does  npt  bear  evidence  of  the 
most  extraordinary  business-cnterprize  exerted 
to  encourage  and  maintain  a  vast  maratimo 
trad«.  The  place  has  not  so  many  natural  ad. 
vantages  for  the  purpose,  but  Art  has  done 
wonders  To  counteract  the  disastrous  effects 
of  the  tide,  which  has  a  fall  here  of  about 
twenty-seven  feet !  a  bold  and  very  curious 
scheme  was  projected,  and  is  in  admirable  ope. 
ration.  The  city  was  enclosed  within  a  huge 
wall  on  the  seaward  side,  with  capacious  pates 
at  certain  intervals.  At  high-water  these  eates 
admit  shipping  info  extensive  and  wide  docks 
superbly  margined  with  massive  stone  quays, 
or  wharves,  calculated  to  accommodate  an  in- 
calculable number  of  vessels  of  all  sizes  and 
descriptions.  Before  the  tide  ebbs  these  yates 
are  firmly  closed,  and  thus  enc'osing  the  water 
like  a  canal,  and  securing  a  sufficient  depth  at 
all  seasons,  even  while,  outside  the  walls,  the 
very  bed  of  the  river  is  in  places  exposed  by 
the  retreating  waters.  This  wall  and  these 
locks  subserve  another,  and  by  no  means  se- 
condary end  in  view  at  their  formation.  Thev 
make  them«elves  useful  as  well  as  ornamental, 
by  facilitating  to  a  pretty  extent  the  faithful 
collection  of  a  large  portion  of  the  revenues  of 
Her  Majesty,  Queen  Alexandrina  Victoria,  con- 
sort of  Prince  Albert  Francis  Augustus  Charles 
Emanuel  of  Saxe  Cobourg  and  Gotha :  we  be- 
lieve we  have  not  omitted  any  part  of  the 
Royal  appellation ! 

But,  behold  us  on  shore,  and  on  our  way  lo 
the  Cnsfom-house  of  the  port  of  Liverpool. 
We  have  no  passionate  desire  to  inspect  that 
building,  bnt  the  government,  in  that  amusing 
way  in  which  most  governments  manifest  their 
desire  to  become  better  acquainted  with  visi- 
tors and  the  state  of  their  apparel,  has  taken 
possession  of  our  trunks  and  other  little  etce- 
teras, nwd  politely  invitf>d  us  to  make  an  ex- 
hibit of  our  wardrobe-  Of  course  there  is  no 
resisting  such  affecting  solicitude,  so  we  at- 
tend. The  officer  who  accompanies  us  has  ju^t 
whisp(*rcd  in  our  ear  that,  if  we  "have  any- 
thing private  to  say,"  he  "is  open  to  re<ison," 
which,  translated  into  the  vernacular  of  com- 
mon sense,  means  that  his  confidence  is  to  be 
won  as  Jupiter  won  the  love  of  Danae.  He  is 
anxious  to  gnze  at  our  goods  and  chatte's 
through  golden  spectncler!  We  have  no  rea- 
son and  less  inclination  to  tempt  his  cupidity. 

The  streets  are  exceedingly  wel'-paved  here. 
S.ime  are  n.acadam'zcd,  we  think,  and  some 
laid  with  stone  as,  in  Philadelphia,  is  Chestnut 
between  Fil'h  and  Sixth  streets.  The  sidewalks 
are  of  fl.iasione,  like  the  pavements  of  New 
York.  Both  the  street  iind  side  walk  are 
covered,  just  now,  with  a  greasy  mud  that  in- 


6 


DU  SOLLE'S 


Tests  a  promenade  with  not  a  few  of  the  cha- 
racteristics of  an  uncertain  experiment.  It  is 
pleasanter  to  ride;  at  any  rate,  a  ride  will  ', 
afford  an  inside  view  of  a  cumbrous  and  inele- 
gant vehicle  called  a  cab,  with  a  driver  titling 
awkwardly  bekind  it,  and  will  besides  feelingly 
accustom  the  passenger  to  one  of  the  innume- 
rable advantages  taken  of  those  who  are  not 
"to  the  manor  born,"  by  the  unscrupulous. 

Several  things  strike  the  eye  of  the  obser- 
vant stranger  here.     A  policeman    in  appro- 
priate uniform  is  encountered  every  few  feet. 
They  appear  to  be  either  extremely  numerous 
or  truly  ubiquitous,  we  have  scarcely  made  up 
our  mind  which.     Soldiers,    in  scarlet  cloth, 
are  also  to  be  seen  lounging  about   or  chatting 
at  the  corners  with  girls,  some  of  them  with 
bunches  of  parti-colored  ribbons  streaming  in 
the  wind  from  their  caps.       The  latter    are 
looking  for  recruits      They  seem  to  be  anxious 
to  discover  those  ardent  philanthropists  who, 
in  the  superabundance   of   their  loyalty,    are 
ready   to  shed    their    blooa    to  "preserve  the 
peace  of  Europe."     (We   might    here  indulge 
in  a  wretched  pun  about  agreeing  to  serve  for 
a  "Sovereign,"  and  receiving    but  four  pence, 
per   day  —  but  we  won't    do    it)     A   street- 
sweeping    machine,  uncouth  and  ugly,  is  en- 
deavoring to  purify  the  way,  just  before  us.  A 
vehicle,  intended  for  a  dray,  but   with  a  large 
cross  ot'  the  wagon  in   its  composition,  brings 
up  the  rear.     It  is  long,  strong,  and  suspended 
only  a    few  inches  above  the  ground-      Its 
wheels,  several  inches  on  the  tire,  are  of  great 
size,  and  incline,  below,  very  much  from  the 
perpendicular.       To    complete    this  picture  a 
number    of   powerful,    deep-chested  draught- 
horses,  are  at  work  in  sight,  and   skipping  be- 
side (hem  a  host  of  tiny  animals  des  gnated  as 
ponies,  attached  to   pleasure-carriages  of  sev- 
eral species.     The  ponies  are,  many  of  them, 
no  larger  than  some   Newfoundland  dogs,  and 
look  very  pretty.     The  income-tax    has  made 
itself  familiar   with  the  purses  of  those  who 
keep  horses  ;  and  as  ponies  were   unimagined 
in  the  B'.ll,  these  diminutives  have  come  in  for 
a  copious  share  of  the  public  attention.    There 
is  one  advantage  attending  their   use.    Should 
they  grow  obstinate  and  refuse    to  proceed  in 
any  given  direction,  it   is   only  necessary  to 
dismount,  put  the  animal   under  your  arm  and 
carry  him  until  he  is  satisfied  that  rebellion    is 
unprofitable. 

Let  us  go  on.  How  massive  are  the  struc- 
tures all  around  us  !  The  houses  wear  an  air 
of  having  been  erected  to  endure  for  ages. 
The  plain  brick  ones  are  dark  and  priaon-hued. 
We  are  told  that  coal-dust  is  incorporated  with 
the  clay  of  which  the  bricks  are  manufactured, 
in  order  to  strengthen  ihem.  In  the  more 
fashionable  thoroughfares  the  bricks  are  plas- 
tered over  and  painted  a  lively  color.  This 
habit  and  the  imposing  style  of  architecture 


generally  adopted,  bestow  upon  the  squares 
quite  a  dashing  and  aristocratic  appearance. 
The  public  edifices  have  the  same  as-pect  of  so- 
lidity and  durability.  It  is  not  our  province  to 
describe  them. 

Here  is  ihe  Custom-house.  We  enter  and 
oblige  an  officer  with  our  keys.  Our  trunks, 
ikc  ,  are  rigidly  examined,  lest  a  mouthful  of 
"  the  noxious  weed  "  be  lying  perdue  in  some 
unsuspected  corner.  The  officers  pause  in 
their  search.  They  confer  together.  Their 
eyes  are  cast  up  m  unmitigated  horror.  What 
have  they  discovered?  Alas!  &omG American 
books  !  Worse  than  this,  some  are  American 
re-prinis  of  English  works.  The  latter,  we  find, 
are  prohibited — interdicted — as  was  the  intro- 
duction of  opium  into  China — and  we  have 
committed  "flat  burglary"  in  their  importaiion  ! 
They  are  taken  from  us.  The  others  are  re- 
stored to  us  on  the  payment  of  an  onerous  duty. 
There  is  one  of  the  contraband  volumes  that 
we  really  must  have,  for  wc  cannot  replace  it, 
and  it  is  valuable.  A  half  crown  crosses  the 
palm  of  an  officer,  and  presto  !  the  book  is  in 
our  possession  The  officer  is  poor,  no  doubi, 
and  your  poverty  is  a  sad  commentator  upon 
the  ethics  of  the  Customs  ! 

Our  liberality  has  done  more  than  we  ex- 
pected, for  it  hais  rendered  our  Custom-house 
friend  communicative.  We  enter  into  conver- 
sation, and  he  actually  does  us  the  honor  to 
mistake  us  for  an  Englishman  !  When  we 
rectify  his  error,  he  testifies  his  surprise  by  de- 
claring that,  "for  an  American,"  we  really 
"  speak  very  good  English  "!  We  verily  be- 
lieve he  labors  under  the  impression  that 
Americans  commonly  address  each  other  in 
Choctaw,  Iroquois  or  some  other  aboriginal 
jargon  unknown  to  civilized  society,  for  his 
companions  also  compliment  us.  One  of  them 
even  solemnly  avers  that  our  diction  is  nearly 
as  pure  as  his  own  !  although.  Heaven  help  us  ! 
he  might  easily  have  been  the  juvenile  of 
whom  the  interesting  papa  says  in  the  song — 

" and  oft  his  head  I  towels, 

'Cause  be  cxasiicrattstlic  II, 

And  won't  iiernoume  the  wuwcls." 
We  left  the  Custom-hou^e  and,  but  for  an  in- 
cident at  the  door,  would  have  brought  to  our 
dinner  anything  but  a  wholesome  slate  of  equa- 
nimity. Napoleon  is  said  to  have  lost  one  of 
his  battles  in  consequence  of  imbibing  his  soup 
in  an  ill-bumor ;  who  knows  what  might  have 
been  the  result.  In  the  present  critical  position 
of  public  afiairs  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain,  had  we  ventured  to  digest  our 
dinner  and  our  dissatisfaction  at  such  a  mo- 
ment! Bat,  sitting  at  the  door  we  saw  a  sai- 
lor, picturesquely  rageed,  laughing  immode- 
rately over  a  well-thumbed  volume  he  was  pe- 
rusing by  what  might  properly  be  called 
"spells."  Curiosity  overcame  propriety.  We 
peeped  over  his  shoulder.  The  book  was  an 
American  one !     Nay  mure,  it  was  the  "Char- 


LETTERS. 

noal  Sketches"  of  our  modest  friend  Neal,  of 
I'niladelphia  !  We  could  almost  have  hugged 
the  taitered  rascal  tor  his  appreciation  of  genu- 
ine wit,  and  fell  vexed  that  the  scurvy  jade, 
Foriuiie,  was  so  disposed  to  place  him  in  the 
fondiiion  of  one  of  (he  heroes  of  the  book  he 
was  reading,  by  enabling  the  public  to  «Beetoo 
much  of  him." 

After  that  we  dined  well  and  deliberately. 
Do   SOLLK. 


NO.  III. 

Eatiu*;  and  (lriiikiii<;  at  Livprpool— pretty  wait- 
iii:;-iiiai(ts,  their  costume  aud  manners — hotel 
arrangements— tlie  streets— substitute  for  pea- 
nuts—wonderful  exhibition— anniversary  of 
the  ''Gunpowder  Plot" — bonfires,  songs — 
tlioughts  on  pick-pockets,  jcc. 

Liverpool,  5  Nov.,  (night)  1845 
Night  in  Liverpool !     We  are  so  gratified  at 
our  leg-freedom — at  our  escape  from  on  ship- 
board where,  "  bouud  to  the  mast  like  the  sou 
of  Ithacus,"  we  vegetated,  for,  after  all, 
"Man,  sir,  is  but  a  plant, 
Although  he  hold  no  place  in  botany"- 

we  ar«  so  delighted  ai  the  opportunity  of  exer- 
cising our  curiosity  aud  our  powers  of  locomo- 
tion at  the  same  moment,  that  we  cannot  be 
tempted  to  remain  indoors,  though  the  luxury 
of  a  quiet  bed  is  most  inviting. 

We  fiud  the  hotel  arrangements  here  some- 
what singular,  but  strikingly  comfortable.     The 
bar  is  not  obtruded  upon  the  sight,  as  in  many 
hotels  at  home,  and  is  attended,  as  we  perceive 
through  a  showy  glass  door,  by  a  lady  dressed 
in  smiles  and  a  black  pelisse.     The  servants 
are  chiefly  of  the  softer  gender,  active,  obliging, 
and  very  assiduous  in  their  attentions.     Those 
we  see  are  decidedly  pretty,  and  if  they  have 
not  the  «'robustness  of  a  beer-barrel",  have  a 
look  of  abundant  health,  and  air  ot  good  humor 
that  is  really  infectious.     They  wait  on  one 
with    cheerful  alacrity,    and  in  their  manner 
seem  anxious  to  assure  one  that  servitude  is, 
with  them,  an  enjoyment  rather  than  a  duty. 
Their  costume  is  neat  and  appropriate.     The 
clean  white  apron  sets  ofl"  their  figures  to  ad- 
vantage, while  the  lace-bordared  net  cap  adds 
an  eminently  domestic  look,  aud  afibrds  a  capi- 
tal contrast  to  the  ruddiness  of  their  cheeks. 
They  are  quite  modest  withal,  and  we  make 
these  notes  while  a  couple  of  them  are  vieing 
with  each  other  in  their  exertions  to  provide 
us  with  a  palatable  supper  in   our  chamber, 
(there  are  no  "tables  d'hote"  in  England,)  and 
anticipate  our  wishes.      There  is  a  want  of 
sociability,  certainly,  in  this  English  mode  of 
eating  in  solitude,  but  the  fashion  has  its  conve- 
niences, not  the  least  of  which  is  the  fact  that 
your  purse  aud  your  appetite  are  enabled  by  it 
to  practise  a  system  of  mutual  accommodation, 
to  say  nothing  of  ttic  obliging  atteutious,  and 
the  pair  of  laughing  eyes  thrown,  as  a  relish, 
luto  the  bargain.     13y  our  side  blazes  a  coal 


fire,  (we  wish  it  were  Pennsylvania  anthracite,) 
that  reminds  one  of  Pittsburgh  and  its  abomi- 
nations, and  before  us  burn  two  candles,  one 
of  which  we  were  under  the  necessity  of  calling 
for  to  assist  us  in  seeing  the  other's  light— both 
together  might  be  eclipsed  in  their  luminous 
intentions  by  a  hall  dozen  enterprising  Ameri- 
can "lightning-bugs,"  provided  the  latter  were 
made  aware  of  the  nature  of  the  experiment. 

Supper  over,  we  may  say  that  the  meal  was 
excellent  and  not  unreasonable.  The  whole 
expense  of  Iod;.;ing,  meals,  &c.,  is  about  equal  to 
the  cost  of  the  same  in  the  first  class  hotels  of 
America.  In  more  fashionable  quarters  the 
expense  is,  of  course,  proportionately  aug- 
mented— the  servants'  fees  being,  possibly,  no 
inconsiderable  item.  At  our  hotel,  these  fees, 
we  find,  ar«  inserted  in  the  bill,  and  are  equi- 
valent to  the  gratuities  usually  bestowed  by 
liberal  travellers  in  our  own  country.  The 
parlors,  we  note,  are  designated  by  names, 
painted  on  small  signs  over  their  doors  :  one 
is  denominated  the  "Aurora,"  another  the  "Mi- 
nerva," another  "Athens,"  &c.  To  go  into 
very  minute  matters,  we  may  add  that  even  a 
small  watch-pocket  of  knitted-cotton,  orna- 
mented, is  suspended,  over  the  head,  from  the 
bed-curtains.  In  fine,  nothing  is  neglected, 
adapted  to  increase  one's  comfort,  or  minister 
to  moderate  desires. 

And  now  for  the  street — for  it  is  only  in  the 
public  streets  that  one  can  get  a  genuine  pic- 
ture of  the  popular  life  and  of  national  man- 
ners. Mud  and  fog  beset  our  path  as  usual, 
but  the  brilliantly  illuminated  shops,  (gas  must 
be  cheap  here,)  makes  a  very  decent  substitute 
for  daylight.  Butcher-shops,  or  stores,  some  of 
them  elegant  establishments,  are  numerous. 
Victualing-shops,  with  men  and  women  dis- 
posing of  the  ready-cooked  and  savory  meats 
in  the  windows  to  customers,  who  carry  it 
away  on  uncovered  plates  or  dishes,  are  also 
abundant.  This  is  classic  enough,  for  "Phaido 
kept  a  victualing  shop,  and  entertained  those 
whom  he  fed,"  and  moreover  had  Socrates  for 
a  boarder.  Of  stores  for  the  sale  of  Yankee 
clocks,  we  have  met  three  within  five  minutes: 
(our  Connecticut  neighbors  never  lose  a  chance 
of  turning  a  penny,  when  they  can  turn  it  satis- 
factorily )  The  liquor  shops  are  beyond  com- 
putation. Their  proprietors,  too,  seem  to  be 
possessed  of  a  pretty  large  share  of  that  spe- 
cies of  "ambition"  which  Shakspeare  speaks 
of  as  likely  to  "o'erleap  itself,"  for  "wine  and 
ale  vaults"  or  "spirit  vault"  is  ostentatiously 
paraded  over  every  shop,  however  innocent  of 
subterranean  accommodations.  Fish,  cheese, 
and  other  stores  for  the  sale  of  almost  every 
imaginable  article,  crowd  the  thoroughfares, 
and  wear  a  look  of  busy  gayety. 

The  streets  are  lively  and  filled  with  people. 
The  omuibusses,  (they  resemble  our  own,  but 
oueh  has  u  "uonduutor"  behind,  to  attend  on 


8  DU  SOLLE  S 

passengers,)  are  raliliiig  by.  The  air  is  vocal 
wiib  all  kinds  of  noike.  Here  is  a  iiille  fellow 
cjt-^rliiig  himbeif  to  biiig  '-Lucy  Neal,"  and 
luakidg  au  extraordinary  effort  to  convince 
biaiself  that  he  is  buccesbful.  There  is  a  man 
with  a  fractured  vocal  organ  pressing  the  pub 
lie  to  believe  that  he  is  actually  giving  away 
his  periwinkles.  His  every  shout  recalls  lo 
mind  Irving's  description  of  Flimsey's  Rich- 
ard HI:  "it  was  like  two  voices  run  into  one; 
you  would  have  thought  two  taei  had  been 
calling  for  a  horse,  or  Kichard  calling  for  two 
horses"  By  the  way,  "periwinkles"  ar«  the 
popular  English  subsliiute  for  peanuts  in 
America.  They  are  not  unlike  small  snails. 
They  have  a  black  shell,  and  are  boiled  as 
we  boil  chestnuts;  after  which  they  are  vended 
to  the  juveniles  in  the  streets,  and  add  their 
quota  to  the  general  entertainment  at  the  thea- 
tre and  other  public  places.  A  little  farther  on 
is  the  exhibition  of  a  Mummy,  and  a  capital 
pair  of  lungs  at  the  door  are  engaged  in  speci- 
fying its  attractive  qualities.  "  'Tis  fresh  as  any 
hegg,  gen'lemen,  and  is  honly  G782  years  old. 
It  is  the  spicy  remains  of  the  Hegyptian  giant 
of  the  Acropolis,  wat  used  to  tear  out  peopU's 
legs,  and  beat  'em  vith  the  bloody  hends. 
Walk  in  gen'lemtn — honly  a  penny."  Ti.e 
curious  erudition  of  the  speaker  is  not  to  be 
passed  by,  and  so  we  commit  his  words  to  memo 
ry  while  conning  a  written  placard  on  the  door 
that  professes  more  circumsianiially  to  enu- 
merate the  contents  of  the  shew.  We  thus 
learn  that  there  is  really  to  be  seen,  within,  "A 
Tiger  from  Bengal  wat  used  to  eat  women, 
and  little  children  under  fourtin  years  of  age!" 
an  "American  crocodile  in  exsellen  repare;" 
also  "The  Patience  of  Job,"  and  a  "tin-cup 
wat  belonged  to  wun  of  the  Patriarks,"  are 
among  the  curiosities.  As  to  the  mummy,  we 
pity  it. 


"  'Tis  hard  one  cannot  lie  amid 
The  mouM,  beneath  a  coffin-lid, 
But  thus  the  Faculty  will  hid 

Tlieir  rogues  break  thro'  it; 
If  they  don't  want  us  there,  why  did 

They  send  us  to  it?" 

The  "tin-cup  of  the  Patriarchs"  and  the  "Pa- 
tience of  Job"  go  entirely  beyond  our  compre- 
hension. We  cannot  imagine  man  or  woman 
having  one,  and  we  fancy  what  a  figure  an 
antedeluvian  would  have  made  using  the  other. 
But  hark!  a  terrific  disturbance  is  going  on 
around  the  corner.  And  see!  there  is  the  light 
of  a  huge  bonfire.  Listen  to  the  songs.  True 
enough;  this  is  the  5th  November,  the  anni- 
versary of  the  "Gunpowder  Plot"  of  Guy 
Fawkes,  and  a  day  universally  and  peculiarly 
celebrated  in  this  country.  On  the  morning  of 
this  day  men  and  boys  parade  the  streets  with 
stuffed  effigies  of  Fawkes,  (who,  history  in- 
forms us,  in  1604  attempted  to  blow  up  the 
Houses  of  Parliament,)  and  beg  pennies  from 
public-spirited  citizens  to  purchase  fireworks, 
ale,  &c.,  for  the  evenings  saturnalia.   At  night, 


immense  bonfires  are  kindled,  a  chair  with  one 
of  the  effigies  is  placed  on  the  top  of  each,  and 
amidst  the  blaze  of  the  whole,  the  discbarge  of 
squibs  and  rockets,  and  the  shout  of  patriotic 
songs,  the  ale  is  drunk,  and  dancing  over  and 
around  the  fires  is  kept  up  until  a  late  hour.  A 
great  many  respectable-looking  persons  of  both 
sexes  are  standing  beside  the  present  confla- 
gration, laughing  at  the  loyal  orgies  of  the  ac- 
tors in  the  scene.  One  man  approaches  us 
with  a  hat.     He  sings — 

"Remember,  remember 

The  .5tb  of  November, 

The  gunijowder-trciuion  and  jilot — 

I  see  no  reason 

Why  tunjiowder-trcason 

Should  ever  be  forgot." 

We  give  him  a  penny,  and  he  proceeds  to  ih-i 
next.  Another  noisy  one  is  amusing  himsolf 
by  feeding  the  flames,  and  as  he  throws  the 
fuel  on  the  effigy,  shouts — 

"Stifk  in  a  stake 
For  i<jn?  George's  sake; 
Stick  in  a  stump 
For  Kjn^  Gcor<e's  rump: 
Holloa  boysl  holloa  boys!  God  save  the  Kinij!  holloa  boys; 
holloa  boysl  God  save  tlie  Queen!  Whooray!  wbooray!" 
Another  discordant  scamp,   in  the  overflow  of 
his  patriotism,  is  screaming,   in  equally  good 
metre — 

"Guy  Fawkes,  Guy,  did  contrive 
To  blow  Kins;  FarfiameDtup  alive, 
But  by  God's  men  y  lie  was  ketiht, 
Witli  a  dark  lantern  and  lighted  match, 
And  just  as  he  was  Roing  to  touch  ihe  prime, 
He  was  caught  by  the  tail  behind— 
Whooray!  whoorajl  whooray!" 
Thus  the  frolic  continues  uniil  the  bonfire  is 
extinguished,  and  the  liquors  and  the  patience 
as  well  as  pence  of  the  spectators  are  exhaust- 
ed. The  police  are  also  on  the  spot.  Indeed, 
it  is  difficult  to  say  where  they  are  not.  We 
encounter  their  blue  coats  and  white  trimmings 
at  every  turn.  And  yet  pickpockets  are  nu- 
merous, and  a  warning  to  beware  of  them  may 
be  found  in  every  place  of  common  resort.  In 
fact  their  presence  appears  to  be  expected;  and 
it  is  not  very  long  since  a  pleasant  English  au- 
thor undertook  to  prove  that  pickpockets  were 
necessary  to  a  perfect  state  of  society.  He 
considered  "a  genteel  man  to  be  somewhat 
neglected"  whose  pockets  escaped  a  contribu- 
tion of  this  character;  and  he  argued  that  a 
gentleman  who  "behaves  as  such,"  could  af- 
ford lo  permit,  if  not  patronize  pickpockets, 
just  as  well  as  noblemen  to  patronize  pugilists! 
Farther  than  this,  he  ingeniously  sought  to 
eulogize  a  rogue  of  the  kind,  by  the  shrewd 
observation  that  'he  picks  his  pocket  when  he 
picks  yours,"  or  in  other  words,  compliments 
you,  by  "making  a  selection,  from  among  a 
hundred,  of  your  pocket  in  especial."  We 
confess  that  as  a  matter  of  convenience,  as 
well  as  taste,  we  could  very  well  dispense 
with  such  compliments  altogether.  They  are 
"touching,"  but  rather  costly  indulgences. 

And  now  to  a  good  night's  rest.  We  grow 
weary  of  sight-seeing,  and  depart  betimes  in 
the  morning  for  the  great  metropolis,  Loudon. 
We  shall  then  have  reached   the  "high  top- 


LETTERS. 


gallant  of  our  j  jy,"  fo  use  the  language  of  the 
love-sick  Romeo.  We  anticipate  much  plea- 
sure in  treading  the  streets,  and  gpzing  at  the 
very  spots  made  familiar  to  us  by  Shakspeare 
and  the  old  dramatists,  and  we  trust  to  be  able 
to  impart  a  little  of  our  satisfaotion  to  our 
readers.     Till  to-morrow  then,  Adieu, 

Du  SOLLK. 

NO.  IV. 

Arrival  in  Loudon — roflectloiis  upon  the  occa- 
sion—vasarics  of  Fant  y— the  p'ltatup-roastcr— 
the  railroad  from  Liverpool— I  lio  enj;ines— llf> 
stopping-places— ru>tic  scenery— linglisli  cot- 
tages—tJie  canal— poetry,  romance,  A:c. 

London,  7  Nov.  1815. 
Here  we  are  at  last  in  the  great  Babylon  of 
Great  Britain!  We  have  reached  it  from  Liver- 
pool, via  Birmirgham,  (vulgarly  ci'led  Brumma- 
'  gem,)  in  twelve  hours  over  a  superb  railroad,  and 
through  a  region  of  coiintry  abounding  in  rural 
scenery  of  the  most  picturesque  and  poetic 
character. 

Our  brain  ia  in  a  complete  whirl  of  excite 
oaent;  but  we  must  pen  our  impressions  while 
they  remain  still  fre«h  upon  the  memory,  for 
having  caught  them,  we  cannot  put  salt  upon 
their  tails  to  keep  them,  nor  let  them  out  on 
parole  with  a  pledge  to  return  when  they  are 
wanted.  Besides  this,  the  boiling  tide  that 
rushes  through  our  viens,  and  the  painful 
throbbing  at  our  temples,  tell  us  but  too  surely 
that  we  are  about  to  pay  the  usual  penally  of  a 
change  of  clime. 

Seated  in  a  snug  little  room  then,  with  a  sea- 
coal  fire  burning  cheeringly  in  front  of  us;  by 
our  side  a  lofty  gothic  window  with  antique 
mouldings  hung  with  crimson  curtains,  and  a 
dim  view  in  the  distance  of  the  immense  monu- 
ment immortalized  by  Pope,  which,  "like  a  ir.ll 
bully,  lifts  its  head  and  lies;"  immediately 
under  our  nostrils  a  delicious  cup  of  tea,  smo- 
king in  china  of  a  pattern  fully  as  ancient  as 
that  of  the  curiously  carved  furniture  that  sur- 
rounds us:  fancy  us  thus  comfortably  siinnted, 
mentally  consigning  a  troublesome  headache  to 
a  fervid  residence  "down,  down  below,"  and 
desperately  essaying  to  clothe  our  capering 
thoughts  in  sober  black,  for  grave  perusal. 

Here  we  are  in  this  vast  cauldron  of  human 
emotions,  our  own  but  a  faint  ideal  in  the 
mighty  pulsation  of  the  two  millions  of  hnman 
hearts  beating  at  once  in  this  overswoln  city. 
We  cau  scarcely  credit  the  evidence  of  our 
senses  that  the  billowy  Atlantic  rolls  between 
us  and  our  distant  home.  The  clock  of  St. 
Paul's  is  tolling  over  the  busy  crowd  of  Mam- 
mon's worshippers  the  waste  of  time,  but  our 
refractory  ears  persist  in  recognising  in  its 
solemn  tones  only  the  familiar  voice  of  our 
old  acquaintance  of  the  Slate-House  steeple; 
and  even  Fancy  busies  herself  in  the  erratic 
task  of  converting  the  dissonant  cry  of  the 
man  at  an  adjacent  corner,  who  is  retailing  the 


potatoes  he  is  ro-isting  in  a  lin-iub  to  ihi>  popu- 
lace in  the  streets,  into  the  cry  (for  "copy"  to 
which  our  own  little  eauctuin  is  so  well  accus- 
tomed. 

All  this,  to  be  sure,  has  nothing  to  do  with 
the  incidents  of  our  transit  from  Liverpool  to 
London;  but  we  must  tell  our  story  in  our 
own  way:  we  have  promised  to  give  a  faith- 
ful transcript  of  our  sensations  as  we  go,  m  a 
lively,  unconstrained  and  soci.'Me  manner,  and 
we  feel  in'lined  to  do  it  even  at  the  hazard  of 
ei;countering  the  "poohl"  and  the  "p«haw!"  of 
those  scurvy  curmudgeons  who  feel  no  interest 
in  the  little  figures  that  goto  form  the  great  in- 
teger of  life,  and  w  ho  exped  a  human  being  to 
travel  wiih  his  heart,  like  his  best  hat,  in  a 
leather-box,  only  to  be  taken  out  and  made  use 
of  on  important  occasions. 

We  le("t  the  smoke  begrimed  city  of  Liver- 
pool at  6  o'clock  this  morning  It  was  scarcely 
daybreak,  and  to  us  the  railroad  t'epot  looked, 
as  a  buildiig,  in  the  dim  light,  not  unlike  a 
church.  We  suspect  ih^t,  w  th  the  exception 
of  the  front,  the  wnole  editice  is  subierrnnean ; 
for,  after  seating  ourself  i:i  a  cur,  and  bsi-in?,  (of 
course,)  imposed  upon  by  the  demapds  of  half 
a  dozi;n  aUeiidani.'<  lor  services  known  and  un- 
known, done  aid  undone,  we  wer'j  whirled 
about  three  miles  through  the  bowels  cf  the 
earth,  and  far  beneath  the  houses,  churches, 
markets  &c  ,  of  Liverpool,  by  means  of  ropes, 
before  we  emerged  into  the  open  air,  at  smother 
depot  beyond  the  populous  confines  of  the  City. 
Here  we  beheld  a  multitude  of  fire-fiends,  in  the 
shape  of  locomotive  engines,  hissing  off  their 
superfluous  steam,  Hashing  their  blazing  eyes, 
or  pulfing  forth  in  huge  volumes  their  thick 
smoke-breath,  as  if  impatient  at  the  delay  that 
kept  each  of  them  from  snatching  up  and  de- 
parting by  some  out:  of  the  several  trains,  with 
its  load  of  mortality.  A  strange  thing  is  an 
engine!  Our  own  started  off  with  a  horrid, 
ear-piercing  shriek  of  exiiltalion  at  having  so 
i-Kany  human  souls  to  torture  or  Irille  with,  and 
went  panting  along  the  iron  road  with  a  vigor 
that,  at  first,  crowded  one's  imagination  wiih 
a  host  of  ideas  th:it  had  very  litile  to  do  with 
this  world,  or  with  the  more  agreeable  division 
commonly  anticipated  of  the  next 

The  English  railroad  cars  do  not  resemble 
anything  American.  They  rather,  bear  an  ap- 
parent relationship  to  the  American  cars  of  an 
early  date.  They  are,  in  fact,  car-coaches,  or 
.stage-coaches  in  the  chrysalis  sta'e  of  transi- 
tion into  railroad  cars,  and  preserve  yet,  much 
of  their  outward  and  inward  semblance  to  the 
original.  The  first  class  cars  are  exiremel;? 
well  fitted  up,  but  the  second  cla?s  are  vile,  and 
the  third  atrocious.  The  buggape  of  the  pat- 
sensers  is  carried  on  the  top  of  these  cars  alto- 
gether, the  luggage  car  in  advance  being  em- 
ployed to  carry  frcigtii.     Theac  rulc&  may  nut 


10  DU  SOLLE'S 

be  applicable  to  ail  the  trains,  but  we  are  not 
aware  at  present  of  any  exceptions. 

The  road  between  Liverpool  and  London  is 
not,  in  construction,  attendance,  regulations, 
&c.,  approached  by  anything  in  our  country. 
Railroads,  with  us,  are  completed  with  a  sin- 
gle eye  to  expedition  or  profit;  here,  the  grand 
object  aimed  at  appears  to  be  solidity  and  dura- 
bility, regardless  of  expense;  but  in  America 
we  are,  in  the  matter  of  luxurious  cars,  at 
least  hdlf  a  century  ahead  of  Great  Britain 

We  left  Liverpool  at  a  rapid  rate,  but  as  we 
hiid  to  slop  at  some  village  or  "Station,"  nearly 
every  ten  minutes,  to  take  up  or  set  down  pas- 
sengers, our  progress  was  necessarily  i^low  — 
Still,  It  was  fa>t  enough  for  every  purpose  of 
observation.  Everything,  indeed,  was  done 
with,  literally,  the  regularity  of  clockwork  — 
ThH  way-bills  designated  the  exact  minute  at 
which  ine  train  would  arrive  at  every  "Station," 
(the  lime  being  nicely  marked  by  a  clock  ad- 
justed agreeably  to  the  longitude  of  each,)  and 
iiothiug  could  be  more  prompt  or  more  punc- 
tual. The  servants,  too,  of  the  railroad  com- 
pany, dressed  in  a  plain  unilorm,  were  always 
on  the  spot,  alert,  active  and  obliging.  One 
of  them  could  always  be  discerned  in  the  dis- 
tance as  we  approached  a  stopping  place,  with 
either  a  red  or  green  flag  in  his  hand,  to  im- 
part to  the  guard  some  necessary  information. 
And  then  at  the  "Stations,"  as  the  stopping- 
places  are  termed,  what  attention  is  paid  to 
the  manifold  wants  of  the  traveller!  We 
should  really  take  a  lesson,  at  home,  from  the 
English  in  this  particular.  The  station-house 
at  even  the  most  obscure  village  is  always  a 
tasty,  as  well  as  comfortable  structure.  A  hand- 
some, paved  way,  extends  along  the  front  of  it. 
Conveniences  ot  all  kinds  for  eeuilemen,  as 
well  as  ladies,  are  there  erected.  A  number 
of  large  signs  conspicuously  arranged,  render 
all  inquiry  as  to  the  title  of  the  place  unneces- 
sary, even  to  the  greatest  stranger.  All  that  is 
required  is  done  with  a  noiseless,  business-like 
despatch,  your  trunks  are  carefully  lifted  up; 
way-packages  of  s.-nall  size  are  placed  in 
lo'-kers  under  the  seats  by  means  of  so'eII  doors 
opening  upon  the  outside  of  the  cars;  coals  are 
enipiied  into  the  tender  from  sacks  ready  filled 
and  in  waiting;  the  water  is  ejected  from  a 
fluted  iron  column  surmounted  by  a  lamp;  the 
bell  tolls,  and  the  train  is  off  at  the  very  instant 
Used  for  its  departure. 

At  one  of  the  "Stations"  we  observed  that 
a  martin  had  built  its  nest  under  the  eaves  of 
the  house,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  smoke,  and 
bustle.  And  the  nest  remained  there  undis- 
turbed, a  popular  superstiiion  rendering  it  a 
perilous  undertaking  to  remove  it.  This  bird 
seems  to  be  aware  of  its  security  ;  for,  in 
many  places  it  occupies  both  of  the  upper  cor- 
ners of  the  windows  of  dwelling  houses  with 
its  bulky,  clay  domiciles,  and  cards  have  to  be 
nailed  over  ihese  snug    localities,  in  order  to 


keep  the  little  architects  out,  and  prevent  such 
unsightly  disfigurements. 

The  scenery  along  the  road,  we  have  said, 
is  picturesque  and  poetic  :  nay  more,  it  is 
really  beautiful,  even  at  this  sombre  and,  so- 
called,  suicidal  season.  It  has  none  of  the 
grandeur  and  sublimity  of  our  American 
scenery ;  there  is  not  the  immensity,  nor  the 
majesty  that  awes  while  it  delights  the  eye  oi 
the  ariist  at  home  ;  but  there  is  a  serene  and 
touching  loveliness  in  the  landscape  that  stirs 
up  e^'ery  ia'eut  feeling  of  romance  in  one's 
consiiiulion,  and,  if  ii  be  true  that  "Friendship 
is  the  wine  of  existence,  and  Love  the  dram- 
drinking,"  makes  one  (eel  wonderfully  like  a 
maudlin  indulgence.  It  is  the  realization  of 
one's  boyhood  dreams  of  rural  pleasantness. 
There  are  the  very  cottages  that  the  old  poets 
have  sung  of,  and  of  which  our  fingers  have 
so  often  sought  to  catch  a  living  likeness. 
There  they  are,  with  their  quaint  and  ragged 
outline — iheir  comical  roofs  thatched  with  straw 
and  o'ergrown  with  moss,  and  their  tiny  lat. 
ticed  windows  peeping  from  between  the 
green  ivy  that  creeps  over  the  walls  and  sha- 
dows them,  like  timid  innocence  looking  out  at 
a  sinful  world.  There,  too,  is  the  little  wind- 
ing road,  the  favorite  of  every  sketch  book. 
There  i-  the  murmering  rivulet,  meandering 
through  the  green  meadows,  with  the  willow 
laving  its  branches  in  the  cool  stream  as  it 
flows.  There  is  the  ancient  village-church, 
the  rustic  mill,  and  the  foamy  waterfall— the 
plank  bridge,  the  little  white  gates,  the  haw- 
thorn hedges,  the  air  of  domestic  induotry  and 
all  the  thousand  and  one  charming  accessories 
of  an  exquisite  picture  that  every  cultivated 
mind  has  painted  at  times,  when  in.'pired  by 
the  books  of  what  we  have  all  been  taught  to 
look  upon  as  a  classic  age  in  the  history  of  our 
common  language. 

After  all  this  rhapsody,  let  it  not  be  sup- 
posed that  we  are  insensible  to  the  glorious 
features  of  our  native  land,  or  that  we  reserve, 
like  too  many,  our  enthusiasm  for  "foreign 
graces."  But,  while  we  worship  the  sublime 
in  one,  shall  we  be  so  prejudiced  as  to  refuse 
to  do  homage  to  the  beautiful  in  the  other? 
Has  not  the  same  munificent  hand  outspread 
them  both  for  human  enjoyment?  Is  it  not, 
after  all,  the  same  Nature,  though  attired  in  a 
diflerent  dress?  Beshrew  us!  but  we  despise 
the  selfish  spirit  that  "can  travel  from  Dan  to 
to  Beersheba  and  find  all  barren,"  because  the 
route  may  happen  to  have  the  odor  of  a  dis- 
tinct nationality;  or  that  fancies  it  exalts  the 
blessings  of  its  own  home,  by  churlishly  dis- 
paraging those  it  meets  with  everywhere  else. 
Nature  has  no  climate,  no  soil,  and  no  nation. 
To  adore  her  is  to  do  reverence  to  her  great 
Author;  and  an  admiration  ot  her  charms  in 
evsry  garb,  in  every  clime,  is  the  natural  reli. 
gion  of  a  grateful  heart. 


LETTERS. 

Une  thing  strikes  the  traveller  as  highly 
characteristic  ia  this  country.  Land  is  valu- 
able, and  per  consequence,  almosr  every  inch 
of  ground  is  under  ouliivation.  The  eye  tra- 
vels over  nothing  but  fields  furrowed  by  the 
plough,  with  vegetation  elruggling  through  the 
rich  dark  earth  into  the  sunliehi;  or  it  rests  on 
the  still  green  pasture  where  the  "lowing 
herd,"  or  the  plump  sheep,  fill  up  the  quiet 
landscape.  Even  the  trifling  space  between  \ 
the  rails  and  the  green  hedge,  (fences  are  rare  I 
here,)  is  carefully  planted  with  eilhet  flowers 
or  vegetables — an  exiraordinory  sight  to  an 
American,  and  od<j  that  prettily  relieves  the 
tedium  of  the  dullest  travel. 

The  line  of  the  canal  to  London  frequently 
crossed  our  track,  a-  d  it  lay  like  a  sheet  of 
molten  silver  imbedded  in  the  deep  green 
of  its  banks.  Now  and  then  it  stole  afar 
ofl  in  its  tortuous  path  like  a  huge  serpent 
striving  to  conceal  itssliining  folds  in  the  dark 
grass.  Anon,  it  bursled  upon  us  flgain  like  a 
sapphire  lake,  while  the  red  sails  of  a  passing 
boat,  (for  they  ui^e  sails  also,  on  this  canal,) 
gleamed,  in  the  sunbeam,  like  rich  rubies  scat- 
tered over  its  placid  bosom. 

But,  our  subject  grows  upon  us  as  we  pro- 
ceed— c)ur  rascally  headache  is  becoming  as 
importunate  as  a  constable — fire,  candle  and 
paper  are  giving  us  a  legitiuiate  "notice  to 
quit" — and  so  like  Ctesar,  we  yield  gracefully 
to  overpowering  numbers,  and  decease  for  the 
uonce.  Du  Solle. 


11 


NO.  V. 

Canals  and  lieadaches— rpflections  on  physic— 
the  railroad  to  London — the  great  tunnels— the 
tiny  gardens,  the  bridges,  the  fare— the  country 
seats— the  chase— singular  fact— Birmingham 
and  a  breakfast— appropriate  thoughts — an 
accident — an  angel  in  disguise — curious  inci- 
dents—arrival at  London,  &:c.  &c. 

LoNPON,  8  Nov.,  1845. 
We  left  off  last  night  in  the  midst  of  the  head- 
ache, and  the  Canal  to  London.  The  one  we 
soon  left  behind  us,  on  the  railroad;  the  other  is 
entirely  too  afl'ectionate,  and  slicks  to  us  as, 
agreeably  to  the  vulgar  apothegm,  Death  adheres 
to  a  defunct  colored  gentleman.  It  is  daylight 
however — perhaps  we  should  say  fog-light,  i'or 
positively  we  can  scarce  command,  through  our 
window,  a  decent  view  of  the  magnificent  bijou 
establishments  acro.«s  the  street,  and  a  sort  of 
clarified  Egyptian  darkness  pervades  every  nook 
and  corner  of  the  metropolis — it  is  daylight,  how- 
ever, and  that  is  some  comfort,  for  a  headache, 
proceeding  from  a  cold,  bt-ars  a  strong  family 
likeness,  in  one  respect  to  the  poetic  geniu.s,  and 
"Genius,"  if  we  may  credit  Mr.  Pump,  "never 
feels  its  oats  until  after  sunset."  We  have  sent 
for  the  man  of  pills,  and  it  is  possible  he  will  be 
able  to  exorcise  our  unpleasant  cerebral  disturber. 
He  will  take  some  "pains"  we  trust.  At  least 
he  should,  for  we  have  an  invincible  repugnance 
lo  the  whole  contents  of  the  iiharmaco[Kri(i,  and 


considerably  prefer  having  our  victuals  go  regu- 
larly through  by  due  course  of  mail,  lo  liaving 
them  physicked  through  by  Express.  Still, drugs 
are  better  than  the  lancet.  Phlebotomy  is,  at 
best,  labor  m  "vain,"  and  "per  Ilerclel"  we 
have  no  relish  for  such  sanguinary  recreations. 

But  to  the  railroad  again.  The  distance  from 
Liverpool  to  London  is  a  little  over  two  hundred 
miles,  but  the  fare  to  one  used  to  the  cheapness 
of  American  transportation  seems  excessive. 
Nearly  twelve  dollars  is  the  price  by  the  best  cars, 
and  ten  and  eight  dollars  by  those  with  inferior 
accommodations.  To  be  sure,  the  road  is  costly 
in  construction,  and  is  maintained  in  admirable 
order,  and  no  doubt  at  a  great  expense.  We 
counted  six  or  seven  tunnels  as  we  passed,  some 
of  them  miles  in  length,  that  must  have  required 
an  enormous  outlay.  The  tunnel  under  the  city 
of  Liverpool  is,  in  itself,  a  wonderful  piece  of 
art,  and  it  is  a  curious  thing  to  see  hundreds  flash- 
ed through  the  earth  beneath  the  very  foundations 
of  a  mighty  congregation  of  human  habitations. 
There  is  another  tunnel  near  Birmingham,  with 
huge  dome-like  openings  lo  the  earth's  surface  at 
intervals,  intended  for  the  escape  of  the  smoko 
from  the  engines.  All  of  them  are  remarkably 
massive  and  solid,  and  have  every  appearance  of 
strength  and  durability.  Then  there  is  a  legion 
of  stone  and  brick  bridges  arching  over  the  rail- 
way at  the  cross  roads,  almo.st  all  of  which  make 
decent  pretensions  to  architectural  display,  and 
are  very  heavy.  The  neatness,  finish,  taste  and 
attention  to  the  public  convenience,  manifested 
at  the  "Stations"  or  stopping-places,  we  have  al- 
ready enlarged  upon,  (omitting,  we  think,  to  men- 
tion the  gardens  of  flowers,  sometimes  only  a 
foot  or  so  square,  invariably  coaxed  out  of  the 
trifling  waste  land  discovered  and  ingeniously 
cultivated  bs'  one  of  the  company's  attendants  on 
the  spot,)  and  then  there  are  net  only  white  mile 
p(}sts  with  large  white  metallic  f  gures  on  a  black 
ground,  but  half  and  even  quarter  mile  posts,  be- 
sides a  number  to  designate,  at  various  points, 
the  direction  to  adjacent  villages.  These  things 
necessarily  involve  groat  expense.  Still  we  are 
inclined  to  think  the  fare  exorbitant,  and  we  sus- 
pect that,  at  present  prices  the  investment  must 
be  profitable,  for  the  business  done  on  this  road, 
and  by  means  of  its  branches,  amounts  to,  we  aro 
told,  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  per  week ! 

There  were  some  lovely  c<*untry  seats,  with 
extensive  parks  and  castellated  mansions,  to  be 
seen  on  our  route.  Now  and  then  we  came 
across  the  family  caniage  of  an  allhient  or  titled 
individual.  The  servants  in  livery,  obseqiiiou.^ 
both  in  dress  and  manner,  with  knee-breeches, 
white  stockings,  shoes  and  laced  coals,  presented 
a  novel  sight.  Of  the  vehicles,  all  were  heavy, 
some  neat  and  some  otherwise,  Occasionally 
we  beheld  a  party  cng;iged  in  the  chase,  with 
their  red  coals,  their  hi)rses,  dogs,  &:c.,  forming 
an  interesting  sight.  These  were  of  course  the 
gentry,  for  the  poorer  classes  have  lillle  lo  do 
with  similar  enjoyments,  unless  it  !«",  peihap.«,  lo 


12 


DU  SOLLE  S 


inveigh  against  such  unnatural  political  distinc- 
tions, v/hcn  their  grounds  have  been  trampled 
down  by  the  hunters  in  the  pursuit  of  a  sport  in 
which  it  would  be  out  of  character  in  them  to 
mingle.  The  farmer  cannot  but  feel  vexed,  too, 
when  sowinij  his  buckwheat,  at  the  compulsory- 
labor  and  its  object;  for  although  buckwheat- 
cakes — that  delicious  food — are  unknown  here, 
every  agriculturalist,  it  is  said,  is  compelled  to  de- 
vote a  portion  of  his  land  to  the  cultivation  of  the 
grain  itself,  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  that  species 
of  game,  viz  :  partridges,  pheasants,  &c.,  which 
he  is  not  permitted  to  point  a  gun  at,  but  which  it 
is  the  special  privilege  of  a  certain  class  exclu- 
sively to  destroy.  This,  if  it  be  so,  is  one  of  the 
odious  features  of  a  political  aristocracy,  and  one 
that  must  make  itself  sensibly  felt,  we  presume, 
on  many  an  occasion.  It  is  peculiarly  hard  when 
a  man  cannot  pursue  the  game  that  he  may  find 
upon  his  own  premises ;  it  is  still  harder,  how- 
ever, when  he  is  coerced  to  provide  food,  on  his 
own  premises,  for  game  reserved  for  the  amuse- 
ment of  others. 

At  11  o'clock,  A.  M.,  we  arrived  at  Birming- 
ham, the  great  iron-manufacturing  city,  the  smoke 
of  which  we  scented  at  the  distance  of  several 
miles.  Its  approach  is  marked  by  iron-works  in 
every  direction,  with  clusters  of  houses  adjacent, 
the  residences,  probably,  of  the  workmen.  The 
forest  of  tall  chimnies  belching  forth  black  smoke, 
and  enveloping  it  forever  m  a  murky  cloud,  does 
not  add  much  picturesque  beauty  to  this  mart  of 
industry,  and  yet  it  was  vocal  with  the  hum  of 
labor  and  enterprise.  The  railroad  tracks  here 
were  very  numerous.  The  depot  is  a  beautifully 
constructed  building.  Its  framework  is  of  iron, 
and  though  large  and  strong,  wears  a  charmingly 
light  and  airy  appearance.  We  do  not  know 
how  many  locomotive-engines  were  firing  up,  or 
living  about,  at  this  station,  but  there  was  a  very 
great  number.  Had  it  been  niglit,  one  might 
easily  have  imagined  that  Pandemonium  had  been 
let  loose,  and  that  Earth  was  being  deluged  with 
a  llood  of  living  and  vivacious  fire-demons. 

We  left  Birmingham  at  twelve  o'clock,  M., 
afler  placing  a  capital  brealcfast  beneath  our 
waistcoat,  and  feeling  altogether  much  improved 
by  the  circumstance.  By  the  way,  it  is  really 
surprising  what  an  eflect  a  satisfactory  meal  has 
/upon  the  human  spirits.  It  is  true  that  of  "all 
;tlie  antagonists  to  mental  depression,  travelling  is 
tiic  most  vigorous;"  but  then  the  etceteras,  witli- 
out  which  travelling  is  a  nuisance,  must  not  be 
ueglecled — and  among  them,  to  say  nothing  of 
good  roads,  palatable  food  is  the  most  important. 
In  fact,  nothing  can  be  properly  done,  (except 
taking  physic,)  that  is  done  fasting — a  truism  illus- 
Iraled  by  the  fact  that  your  lean  men,  your  men 
Willi  the  corporation  of  a  two-ounce  vial,  are 
ever  splenetic,  while  your  rotund,  Falstalf-like 
iuiinunitiesjaro  luirth  incarnate,  witty  themselves 


f  and  the  cause  of  wit  in  otliers.    There  is  some- 

I  thing  both  invigorating  and  humanizing  in  a  f.»eef- 

I  steak — particularly  if  dished  up  somewhat  afler 

I  the  fashion  of  Macbeth's  trite  reUcction  on  a  very 

i  different  subject, 

I        "If  it  were  done,  when  'tis  done,  then  'twere  well 
I        It  were  clone  quinkly:" 

I  and  we  have  always  given  that  shrewd  English 
!  commander  credit  for  unusual  sagacity  who,  ad- 
I  dressing  his  soldiers  on  the  eve  of  a  battle,  said, 
"What  a  shame  it  would  be  to  you  Englishmen, 
who  feed  upon  beef  and  drink  beer,  to  let  those 
rascally  Spaniards  beat  you  who  eat  nothing  but 
oranges  and  lemons:"  truly  a  "meet"  suggestion. 

From  Birmingham  to  London  little  presented 
itself  that  was  novel,  besides  an  accident,  and  a 
couple  of  singular  fellow-pa.ssengers.  The  traiu 
ran  over  and  crushed  a  poor  fellow  who,  intently 
gazing  upon  the  hounds  in  pursuit  of  a  hare  in  a 
contiguous  field,  did  not  hear  the  shrill  sound  of 
the  steam-vi'histle  until  too  late  to  preserve  his 
life.  It  was  distressing.  The  calamity  developed, 
however,  the  s^mipathy  of  our  travelling  com- 
panions, and  we  found  some  interest  in  fabri- 
cating the  remarlcs  of  each  into  an  index  of  ia- 
dividual  character,  "What  a  shocking  death!" 
faintly  murmered  a  lady  on  our  right,  with  the 
least  possible  su>picion  of  a  tremulous  shudder, 
as  she  applied  a  flacon  of  salts  to  her  nostrils — 
performing  the  act  so  as  to  display  to  the  greatest 
advantage  the  full  roundness  of  a  very  beautiful 
hand,  and  the  jewelled  whiteness  of  her  long, 
tapering  fingers  that  looked  like  "rolled-up  rose 
leaves,  with  nails  like  pieces  cut  from  the  lip  of 
a  shell."  "No  business  on  the  railroad,"  surlily 
muttered  a  stout,  well-mufiled  up  old  gentleman 
in  the  corner,  with  a  close  cap  drawn  down  over 
his  ears  and  eyes,  and  whom  the  incident  had  dis- 
turbed irom  a  slumber  to  which  he  had  composed 
himself  a  moment  previous.  "I  hate  a  scene!" 
he  grufily  added,  cocking  up  one  little  eye  with  a 
very  curious  expression  at  the  delicate  lady  we 
have  mentioned,  ere  he  relapsed  into  his  com- 
fortable position.  The  delicate  lady  replied  only 
with  a  furtive  glance  that,  fairly  translated, 
would  have  said,  in  the  words  of  Dickens' Jonas, 
"It  must  be  liquid  aggravation  that  circulates  in 
his  viens,  and  not  regular  blood;"  and  then  spile- 
fully  hitching  up  her  shawl,  she  tried  to  amuse 
herself  by  tapping  "Di  tanti  palpiti"  on  the  win- 
dow pane.  We  had  not  observed  her  lace  par- 
ticularly before,  but  now  that  our  attention  \vas 
drawn  to  it,  vre  thought  that  it  was  surpassingly 
beautiful.  Her  pouting  lips  looketl  with  their 
deep  crimson,  like  a  torn  promegranate  blossom, 
in  the  dark  corners  of  which  a  world  of  Cupids 
were  playing  at  bo-peep  with  each  other.  Yet  • 
there  was  a  luxurious  sadness,  a  something  inex- 
pressibly melancholy  in  the  expression  of  her 
check,  that  conjured  up  a  thousand  piqiiant  de- 
tails of  a  romantic  history.  We  perused  her  lea- 
lures  one  by  one,  a*  we  would  have  pored  over 
the  pages  of  some  delicious  volume,  every  line 
deepening  an  unfathomable  well  of  passionate 


LETTERS. 


13 


inspiration.  Absorbed  in  the  intoxicating  con- 
templation, we  were  suddenly  aroused  from  our 
poetic  reverie  byaliasly  movement  ol'  llic  oIj- 
ject  of  our  attention.  She  yawned.  The  dream 
was  di^^solve5I,  Tlie  spell  was  broken!  Our 
beauty  had  evidently  never  heard  of  the  won- 
ders of  modern  ophthalmic  science.    In  short, 

"A  sh'ght  cast  in  licr  eye  to  her  louks  atlJed  vi^or  !" 
while,  as  if  it  were  "  Pelion  upon  Ossa  piled," 
to  increase  our  discomfiture,  three  of  the  ivory 
angels  that  should  have  guarded  the  rosy  portals 
of  her  voice,  like  the  "lost  i'leiads,"  were  miss- 
ing Irom  Iheir  habitation  I  It  was  too  bad.  The 
book  of  sweet  and  unwritten  tenderness  that 
we  had  mentally  visioned,  lay  cruelly  mangled 
before  us  at  a  blow.  The  tearful  di.j)ihs  of  an  im- 
passioned spirii  that  we  had  sounded — the  cham- 
ber of  grief,  "  aching  with  desolation,"  that, 
through  the  "ouler  vestibule"  of  a  mournful  heart, 
we  had  in  fancy,  penetrated  and  explored,  turned 
out  to  be  the  idle  vagaries  of  a  vulgar  and  alFect- 
ed  shrew.  The  testy  old  gentleman  in  the  cor- 
ner was  her  huslxuid,  andhe  always  raised  "such 
a  precious  go!"  when  disturbed,  she  assured  us, 
that  she  would  have  fainted  outright,  for  our 
amusement,  on  the  occasion  of  the  accident,  but 
for  the  inconvenience  she  experienced  when  her 
nerves  were  in  the  slightest  degree  agitated.  And 
yet  she  was  a  woman  I  and  our  slumbering 
neighbor  had  no  doubt  wedded  her  from  pure 
love!  Ah,  truly,  too  often  "I'amour  e'est  un  enig- 
me,  dont  !e  mariago  nous  apprendra  le  mot;  mais 
ce  n'est  pas  un  bon  mot." 

It  grew  dark  as  we  approached  London,  and  a 
heavy  fog  and  rain  that  had  set  in,  contributed  to 
close  from  our  eyes  what  we  were  really  yearn, 
ing  for — a  perspective  picture  of  the  great  eity- 
We  soon  reached  the  depot,  a  large,  commodious 
and  illuminated  building  in  one  of  the  suburbs, 
where  omnibusses  were  in  waling  to  convey  us 
in  any  required  direction.  A  perfect  stranger  as 
we  were  to  the  country,  little  did  we  know  to 
which  point  of  the  compass  to  recommend  our- 
self,  so  we  concluded,  in  the  true  spirit  of  adven- 
ture, to  trust  ourself  to  Fortune,  in  the  hope  that 
she  uiigh.t  favor  us  wiili  some  sweet  bestowing 
under  the  eircuniilaiices.  We  threw  oursell' into 
an  omnibus  that  appeared  to  have  travelled  the 
dirtiest,  and  of  course,  the  busiest  and  most  pop- 
ular route,  and  opening  a  window,  prepared  for 
the  result.  The  vehicle  was  crowded  and  soon 
driven  oil",  and  in  a  I'aw  minules  we  were 
whirled  through  streets  blazing  with  gas-lights, 
and  tilled  with  carriages  and  cabs  and  people,  all 
hurrying  to  and  fro  in  a  stale  of  apparently  des- 
perate exertion.  We  were  bewildered  with  the 
glare  and  the  bustle,  and  every  passenger  be- 
sides us  had  been  set  down,  when  the  omnibus 
finally  stopped  in  the  midst  of  a  brilliant  and  tu- 
multuous square,  and  we  were  politely  informed 
by  the  conductor  that  we  were  in  front  of  our 
hotel.  We  couldn't  for  our  life  conjecture  how 
he  divined  our  wishes,  but  we  looked  out,  and  as 


the  hotel  had  really  an  aspect  of  comfort,  as  well 
as  elegance,  and  three  or  four  waiters  witli  round, 
jolly  faces,  stood  awaiting  our  decision,  we  pre- 
pared to  descend.  But  our  eye  caught  ihe  profile 
of  a  cat  in  the  doorway.  We  hesitated  a  mo- 
ment, and  the  next  passed  up  into  the  hotel  with 
alacrity.  The  cat  was  sleek  and  well  fed.  We 
never,  by  any  chance,  voluntarily  trust  ourself 
in  a  place  where  the  grimalkins  have  a  lean, 
diaphanous  appearance.  Fat  cats  indicate  good 
living,  fake  our  word  for  it.  We  were  not  mis- 
taken in  the  present  instance.  Du  SoLi^. 

NO.  VI. 

liondon— thn  "  west-cnil" — affhienoe  and  Indi- 
gene*^ —  omnibu-sscs  —  a  female  equestrian— 
ICiit;!ish  men  and  Kngltsli  woiueii— Trafalgar 
square — Lord  Mayor's  day,  its  procession  and 
peculiarities— 3nouutebanl<s,  music  and  gym- 
nasljes— singing  KJrl.s— universal  '"intment" 
—the  Iaz/.aruui  of  the  great  metropolis,  &c. 

Lo.\Do.\,  10  Nov.,  184'). 

Wooed  by  the  charming  weather,  so  unusual 
to  the  season,  we  sallied  out  this  morning,  after 
breakfast,  ("or  a  promenade.  Gro\\'n  leg-weary, 
we  took  a  seat  in  an  omnibus,  and  ultimately  got 
out  at  liyde-Park-corner,  in  the  ultra-fashionable, 
aristocratic,  or  "West-End"  of  London.  Before 
us  rose  the  lordly  front  of  Apsley  House,  the 
magnificent  residence  of  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton, and  around  us  a  host  of  other  splendid  dwel- 
lings inhabited  by  the  titled  or  the  opulent.  As 
we  sauntered  along  the  gay  street  known  so  well 
to  all  novel  readers  as  Viccadi/ly,  admiring  the 
brilliant  equipages  that  dashed  us  by,  or  ever  and 
anon  rushed  through  the  open  gates,  and  drew  \ip 
before  the  door  of  some  stalely  home  of  nobility, 
a  half  dozen  theatrically-dressed  servants  being 
instantly  in  attendance,  we  could  not  help  giving 
utterance  to  a  sigh  ;  for,  gazing  through  the  iron 
railing  at  this  pomp  and  ceremony  of  wealth, 
was  a  poor  woman,  with  an  infant  in  her  arms, 
whose  hollow  cheek  bespoke  abject  want  and 
unspeakable  suflering,  and  whose  eyes  indulged 
m  an  eloquence  of  supplication  for  which  her 
tongue  was  forbidden  to  find  words  by  the  con- 
stant proximity  of  the  police. 

We  had  .some  ditficulty  in  threading  our  way 
quietly  through  the  moving  mass  of  hnmanity 
that  seems  to  throng  the  principal  .streets  of  Lon- 
don at  all  moments.  Once  or  twice  we  came 
near  being  run  down  at  the  cro.-isimjs,  such  was 
the  press  of  vehicles  of  all  de.jcnplions,  from  the 
patrician  coach  with  its  coronet  or  coat  of  arms 
emblazoned  upon  the  panels,  its  mettlesome 
horses  and  gayly-habited  outriders  down  lo  the 
unpretending  donkey-cart,  with  its  homely  shape 
and  its  touching  picture  of  patience  in  harness. 
After  a  hasty  tour  ihiough  the  most  elegant  divi- 
sions of  Old  and  New  Bond,  Regent  and  Oxford 
streets,  and  a  brief  glance  at  the  aristocratic  glo- 
ries of  Soho,  Beigrave,  Portland,  Berkely,  Ca- 
vendish, Hanover,  Portman,  Grosvenor,  Kussell 
and  Bedford  Squares— regions   that   have  beeu 


14 

rendered  by  fashionable  novel  writers  more  fa- 
miliar to  American  ears  than  many  of  them  are 
10  the  eves  of  a  large  portion  of  the  citizens  ofLon- 
don  themselves— we  foimd  our  road  back  again 
to  Piccadilly,  at  its  point  of  junction  with  Co- 
ventry  street,  and  the  handsome  thoroughfare  de- 
nominated the  Haymarket. 

Here  we  paused  for  a  moment  to  contemplate 
the  busy  scene.    On  either  side  of  the  way  ran 

two  migh'y  floo<^s  °f  ^'^^'  ^^'^^  ''"'^  ^°^'^  '" 
both  struggling  to  get  beyond  its  fellow,  and  each 
swelling  up  and  rolling  on,  mindful  only  of  its 
own  importance,  and  intent  only  upon  its  own 
object.  The  carriage-way  exhibited  a  similar 
and  equally  active  sight.  Here  were,  at  least, 
half  a  score  of  handsome  omnibusses,  (very  like 
our  own,)  in  sight  at  once,  each  "licensed  to 
carry  thirteen  inside  and  eight  outside,"  as  the 
signs  conspicuously  inform  us,  all  nearly  full, 
with  both  men  and  women  perched  on  top— a 
seat  preferred  by  many,  even  m  unpleasant 
weather,  there  being  no  difference  in  the  price. 

For  one  shilling,  (2-5  cents)  these  'busses,  as 
some  call  them,  will  carry  you  a  distance  of 
about  ten  miles,  and  no  distance  whatever  for 
less  than  six-pence.  A  conductor,  who  is  usually 
paid  three  pounds  (Sl-5,)  per  week  for  his  ser- 
vices, stands  at  the  door  of  each  to  attend  upon 
passengers,  and  we  have  found  them,  so  far,  very 
attentive  and  full  of  suavity. 


Indeed,  we  feel  bound  to  say  that  we  have 
been  quite  agreeably  disappointed,  as  to  our  ex- 
pectations in  regard  to  the  English  people  and 
their  manners.  They  are  not,  by  any  means, 
what  we  imagined  them  to  be,  judging  from  our 
views  of  too  many  of  them  at  home.  We  sus- 
pect that  the  belter  kind  remain  here  among  their 
kindred  and  old  associations,  and  that  very  fre- 
quently those  who  visit  America  with  such  pre- 
tensions to  consequence,  have  some  pressing 
reason,  besides  curiosity,  for  abandoning  their 
native  land.  Of  course  there  are  many  excellent 
English  emigrants  in  the  U.  States,  some  of  whom 
we  have  the  pleasure  of  numbering  as  personal 
friends;  but  our  remarks  apply  to  those  dogmatic, 
supercilious,  dissatisfied  individuals,  who  aflect 
a  contempt  for  every  thing  American,  and  an  air 
of  royal  disgust  for  luxuries  they  never  scented 
at  home,  behind  their  filthy  counters  at  White- 
chapel  or  St.  Giles. 

But  to  return  to  the  omnibusses:  they  are  an 
amazing  convenience  in  this  populous  city,  whose 
ten  thousand  streets,  alleys,  places  and  courts, 
and  whose  far-reaching  extremities,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  explore  without  their  assistance. 
They  are  universally  employed  by  all  classes, 
and  the  women,  if  anything,  countenance  them 
still  more  than  the  masculine  gender: 

"Some  la(Ue.<i  there  are  who,  I)Ptwixt  yon  and  I, 

Are  fond  of  a  'bus'  when  a  sweetheart  is  nigh." 

But,  the  omnibusses,  numerous  as  they  were,  d'd 

not  quite  us\irp  the  road.     We  beheld  one,  two 


UU  SOLLE'S 

three,  four,  yes  five  i)ony  phaetons,  gliding  along 
with  the  ease  and  lightne.*fe  of  birds,  full  of  joyous 
eyes  and  laughing  faces,  and  drawn  by  the  pret- 
tiest little  miniature  animals  ever  manufactured 
in  fairy-land  for  Cinderalla,  their  tiny  hoofs  pit- 
pating  over  the  smooth  stones,  like  the  frightened 
heart  of  a  timid  maiden  at  sight  of  the  idol  of  its 
first  devotion. 

Next  came  a  ci-devant  Royal  Mai  Coach, now 
simply  Stage  Coach  for  the  conveyance  of  pas- 
sengers to  distant  points  not  touched  by  any  one 
of  the  innumerable  railroads  that  are  branching 
out,  like  the  hundred  hands  of  Briareus,  to  grasp 
every  accessible  spot  on  the  island.  The  mail- 
coach  still  preserves  some  of  its  ancient  pride, 
and  much  of  its  show  and  flourish.  Blazing 
stars,  and  rampant  lions,  in  all  the  glory  of  gold- 
leaf,  bedizzen  the  royal  initials  and  insignia,  upon 
its  sides  of  polished  and  glittering  dark-green  or 
purple,  while  the  merry  laugh  from  the  jolly 
crowd  on  the  "roof,"  or  the  obstreperous  jest 
from  the  spirited  party  m  the  "dickey"  behind, 
still  rings  in  our  ears,  and  haunts  us  with  its  mu- 
sical heartiness. 

A  lady,  on  horseback,  modestly  attired  in  the 
customary  endless  skirt  of  shadowy  hue,  with  a 
jaunty  black  beaver  hat  on  her  head,  and  long 
bright  ringlets  streaming  down  and  over  her 
round  cheeks,  ruddy  with  exercise,  was  also 
trotting  past  us,  managing  her  beautiful  and  vi- 
vacious bay  with  a  skill,  ease  and  grace,  thai 
argued  frequent  practice.  A  lady  e?i  c/ieval,  is, 
at  all  times,  charming  to  look  at,  and  English  wo- 
men, generally,  ride  often,  much,  and  very  well. 
Talking  of  English  women,  here  we  have  been 
poignantly  deceived  again.  We  expected  to 
meet  few  besides  lovely  ones,  in  the  street,  with 
complexions  calculated  to  thaine  the  lily  and 
rose  and  suggest  to  both  the  propriety  of  deceas- 
ing with  envy  and  mortification.  But  we  were 
egregiously  mistaken.  Those  flowers  have  not 
the  slightest  reason  to  keep  themselves  informed 
of  the  state  of  the  baneful-drug  market,  on  this 
account.  Certainly,  we  saw  yesterday  in  Hyde 
Park,  peeping  from  amid  the  blue  or  crimson 
curtains  of  an  occasional  haughty-looking  car- 
riaae,  some  fair  faces  wearing  an  air  of  distin- 
g7te,  and  entitled  to  be  called  interesting,  if  not 
pretty;  but,  as  a  general  remark,  female  beauty  is 
exceedingly  rare  here;  and,  on  our  honor,  with 
everv  disposition  to  be  candid  and  generous, 
we  must  say  that  we  have  met  in  ten  minutes, 
more  handsome  features  in  Chestnut  street,  Phi- 
ladelphia, and  JNlarket  street,  Baltimore,  than 
could  be  encountered  here  in  almost  as  many 
hours.  We  say  nothing  of  Broadway,  New 
York,  for  it  is  a  vulgar  and  common  observa- 
tion, that  a  decent  countenance  cannot  prome- 
nade that  street  except  at  the  imminent  hazard  of 
"catching  the  ugly;"  and  the  notion  is  almost  as 
applicable  to  Regent  and  Oxfoid  streets  in 
this  city,  whether  one  gaze  at  the  meretricious 
displays  en  voitiire,  or  at,  (where  we  conceive 
fominiue  beaut v  is  of"tener  to  he  found,)  the  more 


imaeeuming  throng  wlio  are  not  ashamed  to 
make  a  leg:itiinate  use  of  the  limbs  with  which 
Nature  has  provided  them.  As  a  whole,  the  men 
are  finer-looking  than  the  women,  in  this  coun- 
try. They  are  of  a  proper  height,  symmetrical, 
well-knit  and  muscular,  while  handsome  faces 
are  bv  no  means  uncommon  in  every  rank  of 
life.  The  women,  however,  arc  unqnes^tionably 
engaging  in  their  manners,  are  blessed  to  a  great 
extent  with  sweet  voices  and  kind  hearts,  and 
make  affectionate  wives  and  exemplary  mothers. 

But,  to  get  back  to  our  post  whence  we  are  ever 
rambling:  at  a  respectful  distance  from  the  lady 
on  horseback  rode  her  e»cort,a  servant  in  livery, 
with  white  knee-breeches,  gaiters,  iScc,  and  in  a 
black  coat  and  a  "brown  study."  A  little  beyond, 
a  large,  clumsy  vehicle,  its  old  and  tarnished 
embellishments  bespattered  with  mud,  was  rum- 
bling by,  with  a  smartly  caped  coachman  on  the 
box  in  front,  a  male  and  female  servant  seated  in 
the  curious  fixture  behind,  and  four  jaded  post- 
horses,  the  two  lel't  hand  ones  being  mounted  by 
post-boys  in  knowing  caps,  pink  jackets,  while 
knee-breeches  and  Axir-lop  boots.  Some  proud 
family  was,  no  doubt,  returning  from  the  country 
to  its  mansion  in  town. 

Satisfied  with  our  view,  we  turned  down  the 
Haymarket,  glanced  at  the  Italian  Opera  H. use, 
smiled  at  the  appearance  of  some  two  or  three 
loungers  against  the  pillars  of  the  theatre — fel- 
lows who  displayed  all  their  linen  between  their 
cravats  and  the  first  button  of  their  waistcoats, 
linen  too  that  manifested  a  singular  ignorance  of 
the  price  and  quality  of  soap,  and  fellows  whom 
it  was  easy  to  distinguish  by  their  air  as  attaches 
of  the  drama  who,  "after  giving  away  realms  and 
treasures  over  night,  have  scarce  a  shilling  to  pay 
for  a  breakfast  in  the  morning" — and  then  saun- 
tering by  Pall  Mall  and  Charing  Cross,  towards 
the  Strand,  stopped  to  admire  the  pair  of  diminu- 
tive fountains  and  the  lofty  monument  to  Nelson, 
in  Trafalgar  Square. 

We  have  promised  to  avoid  all  the  usual  de- 
scriptions of  public  places,  engravings  of  which 
are  in  the  hands  of  "all  the  world  and  his  wife," 
but  we  may  be  permitted  to  mention  that  the 
buildings  around  Trafalgar  Square  present  a  very 
grand  and  imposing  appearance,  if  we  except  the 
National  Gallery,  which  is  an  extensive  but  home- 
ly edifice.  The  Club-houses  about  Pall  Mall ,  too, 
are  showy,  though  exceeded  by  those  of  St. 
James  street,  perhaps,  in  every  particular.  The 
front  of  the  Duke  of  Northumberland's  attracted 
our  attention  by  its  "lion  of  Percy" — a  rather 
stupid  one,  we  thought,  with  a  tail  projected  at  a 
rigid  right-angle,  as  if  it  had  formed  a  previous 
intimacy  with  a  glue-pot. 

We  wandered  on,  and  round,  and  through  Lin- 
coln's Inn  Fields,  where  the  new  law-building 
had  just  been  opened  with  appropriate  ceremo- 
nies by  the  Queen;  and  thence  back  into  Fleet 
street,  by  Temple  Bar — an  archway  of  stone,  of 
the  Corinthian  order,  built  by  Sir  Christopher 


LETTERS.  15 

Wren,  after  the  great  fire.  Il  was  originally  one 
of  the  city  entrances,  and  has  still  its  posterns  and 
gates — the  city  proper,  of  London,  being  limited 
extremely  in  extent.  We  had  explored  the  Tem- 
ple, another  of  the  legal  precincts,  and  relumed 
to  Fleet  street,  when  we  Ibund  it  completely  im- 
passable. A  dense  mass  of  people  filled  it,  and 
a  rapid  tide  of  shouting  and  boisterous  humanity 
was  pouring  into  it  besides,  from  the  Strand, 
Drury-Lanc,  and  Ludgate  Hill.  In  fact  it  was 
the  Lord  Mayor's  day.  The  new  olTicer,  elected 
by  the  "Livery"  of  the  ditferent  "Guilds,"  was 
about  to  be  inducted  into  his  seat,  which  he  re- 
tains for  a  twelve-month,  with  all  the  extrava- 
gant ceremony  usual  to  the  occasion.  The  pro- 
cession was  about  to  turn  into  Fleet  street,  at  the 
time  we  entered  it,  and  hence  the  tumult  and 
gathering  We  were  instantly  jammed  into 
a  very  inconsiderable  space,  with  our  boots  in  a 
puddle  of  mud,  our  heels  against  the  curbstone, 
and  a  solid  phalanx  of  flesh  and  muscle,  not  a 
small  portion  of  which  was  petticoated,  pressing- 
us  on  every  side,  as  if  to  lest  our  capacity  for 
physical  endurance.  We  submitted  to  the  mar- 
tyrdom quietly,  for  there  was  an  infinite  deal  of 
merriment  in  the  mob,  and  remonstrance  would 
have  been  useless.  Some  of  our  neighbors  tried 
their  skill,  at  a  few  of  the  sounding  expletives  in 
which  our  language  is  prolific;  but  what  are 
oaths? 

"  If  you  have  sworn  men,  into  agues,  sir, 
Don't  try  your  skill  on  me  !  My  parrot 
Swears,  as  well  as  you  !" 
So  we  held  on,  amusing  ourself  by  staring  at  the 
ancient  palace  of  Henry  VIII.  and  of  Cardinal 
Wolsey,  now  converted  into  a  barber-shop, 
which  stood  directly  vis-a-vis  to  where  we  were 
literally,  a  fixture,  until  the  gay  cortege  should 
think  proper  to  approach.  The  cruel  and  iniqui- 
tous conduct  of  this  tyrant  King,  the  unhappy  fate 
of  Anne  Boleyne,  and  the  arrogant  ambition  of 
the  haughty  Minister,  afforded  us  scope  enough 
for  thought  while  looking  at  what  was  once  the 
great  theatre  of  their  shame  and  glory.  But,  our 
musings  were  suddenly  abbreviated  by  the  flour- 
ish of  music,  and  the  advance  of  a  body  of  horse- 
men. To  these  succeeded  the  pupils  of  the  Ma- 
rine School  on  foot — then  seamen,  with  banners, 
under  the  weight  or  importance  of  which  they 
fairly  staggered — more  music — vehicles  with  Al- 
dermen, &c. — Sheriff's  in  gay  attire — more  music 
— Knights  encased  from  head  to  foot  in  ancient 
armor  of  brass  and  steel,  mounted  upon  horses 
hidden  under  a  similar  panoply  of  burnished 
metal  plates — the  late  Lord  Mayor  in  a  white  wig 
and  a  green  coach,  the  latter  laden  with  orna- 
ments of  gold,  and  preceded  and  followed  by 
a  juvenile  army  of  attendants  in  a  livery  of  the 
most  dramatic  and  sumptuous  character — more 
music — more  horses,  more  armor,  more  carriages, 
and  finally  the  Lord  Mayor-elect,  in  a  new  coach 
of  immense  size,  glittering  with  costly  magnifi- 
cence, profusely  decorated,  and  drawn  by  eight 
superb  horses  fancifully  caparisoned,  and  ridden 
by  postillions  in  equally  pompous  costume.    A 


16 


DU  SOLLE  S 


torrent  of  new  servants  in  a  new  and  still  more 
grand  livery  of  crimson  cloth,  gold  lace,  cocked- 
hat,  &c.  succeeded,  when  more  music  and  more 
horsemen  brought  up  the  rear. 

We  fell  into  the  retreating  tide  that  swept  to- 
wards St.  Paul's,  and  now  came  the  season  of 
mirth.  The  populace  were  determined  to  make 
this  a  day  of  enjoyment,  and  the  street  was  soon 
occupied  at  all  points  by  modntebanks,  who 
essayed  to  drive  a  profitable  trade  am  id  the  crowd. 
Every  few  steps  a  band  of  musicians  made  the 
air  melodious  with  scraps  from  La  Sonnambula, 
II  Puritani,  (5cc.  or  regaled  us  with  "God  save  the 
Queen,"  with  embellishments  ad.  lib.  In  one 
spot  some  wrestlers  exerted  themselves,  making 
the  mud  fly  at  all  angles,  or,  for  they  were  dressed 
in  the  usual  circus  style,  they  piled  themselves 
up  into  monuments,  or  twisted  themselves  into 
knots,  always  concluding  by  the  monotonous  pro- 
jection of  a  cap  into  the  throng  for  eleemosynary 
pennies.  At  another  spot  a  circular  space  had 
been  cleared,  and  two  fellows  in  theatrical  cos- 
tume were  dancing  hornpipes,  minuets,  &c.  on 
the  greasy,  wooden,  paved  way,  with  the  same 
pecuniary  object.  Farther  on  were  two  vocalists 
entertaining  the  public  with  an  original  duett, 
eulogizing  the  new  officer  and  cauterizing  the 
late  incumbent.  They  sang  with  sufRcent  vehe- 
mence, if  not  skill,  and  shouts  of  applause  greeted 
every  severe  thrust  at  the  deceased  lion. 

The  next  we  met  was  a  Paganini  of  the  Tom 
Thumb  order.  He  was  torturing  a  violin  shame- 
fully, but  his  want  ot  height  carried  it  "all  hollow" 
against  his  want  of  ability,  and  the  coppers  rat- 
tled bountifully  into  his  papa's  "ventilating  gos- 
samer," through  the  openuigs  in  the  crown  of 
which,  paper  had  been  stuffed,  to  render  the 
"tile"  trustworthy.  Two  small  girls,  with  a  mo- 
rose-looking man,  were  singing  popular  music  to 
the  accompaniment  of  an  accordion,  at  still  a 
little  distance  onward.  They  had  sweet  voices 
and  melancholy  countenances,  and  poverty  was 
written  very  intelligibly,  (and  we  thought  iil-usage 
too,)  in  their  sad  little  eyes.  They  did,  it  was 
pleasant  to  perceive,  a  lucrative  business. 

Many  other  performers  were  seeking  to  attract 
notice  in  various  ways,  and  the  venders  of  songs, 
candies,  roasted-potatoes,  toys,  medicines,  gin- 
gerbread, &c.,  were  not  idle  by  any  means. 
"Grapes,  grapes — fourpence  a  pound  mid  a  quar- 
ter for  penny,"  squeaked  one  individual,  thrusting 
a  handful  ot  his  merchandise  almost  into  our 
mouth.  "Here's  old  jokes  made  new  again  for 
nothing,  and  two  'undrcd  new  'uus  a-going  for 
a' a' penny."  "Taters!  taters  !  betterer  for  yer 
"wholesomes  than  bread,  and  cheapercr  than  po- 
lonies," i.  e.  Bologna  sausages.  "Is  there  any- 
body here  vat  don't  want  to  die  vatsomdever  ? 
Ere's  the  'intment  vat  eiv'd  JNIethusalcm  his 
years,  and  Solomon  his  visdom  I  It  sharpens  the 
vit,  and  takes  the  hedge  ofTmisforlin  I  It  makes 
young  men  true,  and  young  vimen  iruerer !    It 


makes  the  'ead  light  and  the  purse  'eavy;  eld 
folks  young  and  young  'uns  clever  enough  to 
come  it  over  the  hold  coveys !  It  tells  fortins, 
'terprits  dreams,  and  makes  riddles  !  This  'ere 
'intment  is  born  magical  from  T.iy^t,  and  will  do 
everything  almost,  besides  a  good  deal  more !  A 
box  of  'intment,  pir?"  But  we  passed  on.  A 
shew  next  presented  itself  with  "six  munificent 
sights  for  only  one  a'penny."  Among  the  sights 
was  "New  York  in  the  time  of  the  Cholery." 

Beggars  too  seized  this  opportunity,  and  one 
horrible  looking  article  of  a  very  questionable 
gender,  stopped  our  progress,  and  declared  it 
would  have  a  fit  at  our  feet,  if  we  did  not  produce 
a  penny.  A  glimpse  at  a  glazed  hat,  (a  police- 
man) at  a  little  distance,  induced  this  rascal  to 
evaporate,  when  another  presented  himself,  sit- 
ting in  a  bowl,  having  lost  his  pedal  "continua- 
tions." We  were  told  that,  in  a  fit  of  despair, 
once,  he  had  thromi  himself  into  a  steam- 
cutting  machine,  and  sadly  mangled  bis  "sit- 
down"  extremity.  Time  and  a  surgeon,  how- 
ever, soon  restored  him.  He  travelled  well  in 
his  bowl,  and  was  to  us  a  sort  of  living  illustra- 
tion of  Shakspeare — 

"There's  a  divhiity  doth  shape  our  ends, 

Rough  hew  them  as  we  will." 
Shaking  ofFthese  annoyances,  we  pursued  our 
way  down  Gheapside  towards  Cornhill.  to  get  a 
view  of  The  Exchange  and  the  Bank  of  England. 
The  Bank  is  a  mis-shapen  structure,  too  low  for 
its  length,  but  the  Exchange,  recently  restored 
and  finished  by  Victoria  is  in  very  good  taste. 
A  finished  statue  of  the  Queen  occupies  a  promi- 
nent place  in  it,  and  on  the  ceiling  of  the  outer 
promenade  are  some  very  skilful  efforts  of  the 
pencil.  The  coats  of  arms  of  the  various  na- 
tions of  the  world  are  also  depictured  there.  That 
of  the  United  States  is  exactly  opposite  the  en- 
trance, but  is  so  vile  a  copy,  we  could  scarcely 
recognize  it. 

Fatigued  almost  to  death  we  prepared  to  re 

trace  our  footsteps,  and  after  pausing  to  smile  at 
the  drolleries  of  Punch  and  Judy,  exhibited  in 
one  of  the  streets  in  our  route,  and  to  admire  the 
sagacious  gravity  of  the  dog,  who  seemed  to  en- 
dure the  buffelings  that  fell  to  bis  share  with  un- 
paralleled patience,  soon  found  ourself  at  our 
Hotel,  discussing  a  chicken,  and  the  propriety  of 
inditing,  (what  we  fear  our  readers  will  pro- 
nounce,) this  tedious  epistle.  Du  Solle. 

NO.  VII. 

Nice  Weather— Green  Park— Physic  and  Fancy 
—Regent  Street— St.  James'  Palace— troik. 
ford's  Hell — Buckiii;;linm  Palace — Deiis  of 
Misery  and  Mant— Westminster  Abbey — A 
stroll  amid  its  peopled  solitnde. 

London,  20tb  Nov.,  1S4.3. 
And  this  is  what  is  called  a  "London"  day! 
The  smoke-fog  is  so  thick  in  the  streets  that  it 
imparts  even  to  one's  flesh  "an  'ammy  ilavor,''as 
my  Lord  Bacon  might  have  ol)served  iiad  be  dealt 
in  epithelical  philosophy.     One  might  readily 


LETTERS. 


17 


Tanoy  thai  all  the  teeth  belonging  to  thciuorc  than 
two  millions  of  "forked  radishes"  who  inhabit 
this  monstrous  metropolis,  had  been,  at  once, 
afflicted  this  morning  with  "odontalgia" — to  use 
the  diction  of  the  newspaper  advertisements — the 
very  atmosphere  is  so  impregnated  with  Kreosote. 
At  the  same  time,  a  drizzling  rain  is  visiiing  the 
earth  with  anything  bnt  freshness,  while  a  raw 
and  searching  wind  penetrates  every  creviee, 
filling  the  mind  with  dispiriting  emotions,  andihe 
body  with  what  a  facettous  friend  of  ours  has  just 
called  the  "poet's  palsy,"  or  'room-attic'  disorder. 
The  streets  of  London,  at  no  time  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  cleanliness,  are  at  present  beyond 
all  description  filthy.  The  wood  and  stone  are 
completely  concealed  beneath  a  garment  of  unc- 
tuous mud  that  slips  at  the  lightest  tread  of  the 
r  pedestrian,  with  a  treacherous  facility  that  pro- 
mises every  moment  the  most  musical  results — 
an  Oflagio  moveinent,  for  instance,  with  volti 
sitbito,  pleasantly  imprinted  upon  each  corner. 

Oh!  it  is  a  delicious  day,  to  be  sure;  and  yet, 
having  once  more  disposed  of  the  doctor,  we  long 
to  Scrape  off  the  verdegris  of  a  week's  coerced 
sojourn  within  doors,  and  to  acquire  an  appetite 
for  something  besides  the  preparations  of  phar- 
macy. It  is  very  true  that  physic  is  said  to  in- 
spire some  minds,  and  fancy  others.  Byron's 
Don  Juan  is  attributed  to  gin  and  water,  and 
Burke's  Sublime  and  Beautiful  to  the  fiy-blister 
witk  which  that  eloquent  gentleman  irritattd  his 
stomach  to  excite  his  nervous  energies :  and 
Bayes  tells  us,  "If  I  am  to  write  familiar  things, 
as  Sonnets  to  Armida,  and  the  like,  I  make  use 
of  slew'd  prunes  only,  but  when  I  have  a  grand 
design  on  hand,  I  ever  take  physic  and  let  blood." 
But  Bayes  be  hanged ! 

"To  keep  us  from  lorrow  good-humor's  the  armour  ;" 
and  with  plenty  of  clothing,  and  a  determination, 
like  Mark  Tapley,  to  "be  jolly,"  under  all  cir- 
ciunstances,  what  is  to  hinder  us  Irom  enjoying 
ourself,  and  with  one  thumb  at  our  nose,  bidding 
defiance  of  both  the  weather  and  the  "azure"  de- 
mons? So  behold  us  venturing  omnibuS'Ward, 
on  our  way  to  Westminster  Abbey,  the  most  ap- 
propriate lounge  we  can  think  of,  at  such  a 
season. 

It  is  here,  as  it  is  at  home  in  one  respect ;  the 
omnibusses  are  always  running  East,  when  you 
are  in  a  particular  hurry  to  go  West,  and  vice 
versa;  however,  by  dint  of  patience,  we  have 
paid  our  sixpence,  had  our  ride,  and  are  set  down 
in  Piccadilly,  near  the  Duke  of  Devonshire's,  and 
ai  the  lower  end  of  Green  Park. 

Let  us  enter  the  Park.  They  have  torn  down 
a  portion  of  the  old  wall  at  this  point,  and  are  re- 
building one,  a  few  feet  farther  in,  so  as  to  widen 
the  foot-way  on  Piccadilly — a  decided  improve- 
niciit.  The  wall  is,  we  perceive,  being  con- 
strticled  of  brick,  and  is  to  be  surmounted  with  a 


plain  iron  railing.  By  the  way,  the  bricks  of 
London,  no  m(jr*!  resemble  the  bricks  of  Liver- 
pool, than  they  do  the  bricks  of  Phrladelphia. 
When  new  they  are  of  a  yellowish  brown  color, 
someihing  like  under-baked  bread.  The  smoke 
soon  converts  them  to  a  very  dark,  mehuiclioly 
grey,  bestowing  even  upon  comparatively  modern 
buildiirgs  a  sober,  solemn  air  of  antiquity.  Hence, 
the  more  elegant  mansions  and  "shops,"  (as  all 
stores  however  extensive  are  called  here,)  are 
plastered,  and  then  painted,  genei-ally  a  yellowish 
cream  color,  and  it  is  this,  with  the  ornamental 
style  of  architecture  in  common  use,  that  invests 
the  better  streets  with  so  much  florid  beauty. 
Regent  street,  (the  Chestnut  street  or  Broadway 
of  London,)  looks,  at  night,  when  illuminated 
with  its  legion  of  fashionable  shops,  like  a  con- 
greg-ation  of  palaces,  and  yet  divested  of  its  paint 
and  plaster,  its  vehicles,  pedestrians,  and  all  its 
other  e.\tensive  embellishments,  it  would  present, 
we  suspect,  a  rather  sorry  aspect — a  sort  of  mo- 
dern Venus,  robbed  of  the  artistical  assistance  to 
which  it  owes  its  "form  and  pressure,"  if  not  its 
"body,"  for  the  time.  Neamnoins,  Regent  street 
is  a  most  magnificent  thoroughfare,  despite  of  all 
this  hypercritical  disparagement. 

Return  we  now  to  Green  Park.  It  is  well 
named,  for  how  remarkably  green  is  its  gently 
undulating  surface  of  grass,  even  at  this  late  sea- 
son! Tnat  oblong  basin  of  water  must  be  de- 
ighiful  to  gaze  at  in  summer!  and  those  large 
and  lofty  dwellings,  with  gardens  before  them, 
fronting  on  the  park,  the  iron  gateways  of  some 
shadowed  by  a  sylvan  bower  of  flowering  plants: 
what  charming  residences  for  hearts  that,  amid 
this  whirlpool  of  dissipation,  can  relish  the  sim- 
ple loveliness  of  rural  nature!  Yet,  strange  as 
it  may  seem,  and  it  is  but  another  illustration  of 
the  truism  that  extremes  seek  each  other,  and 
meet  throughout  all  conditions,  for  we  now  stand 
in  the  very  hot-bed  of  an  artificial  existence, 
with  all  itsgor'geous  pomp,  its  splendid  misery, 
its  gilded  vice  and  its  hollow  courtesies! 

Yonder,  where  the  faces  of  the  two  red-coated 
soldiers,  peep  from  beneath  their  huge  fur  caps, 
stands  St.  James'  Palace — quite  a  plain  residence 
of  Royalty.  Its  every  avenue  has  a  couple  of 
crimson  shoulders,  with  gleaming  bayonets  upon 
them,  parading  before  it  day  and  night.  Just 
now,  the  crimson  can  only  be  seen  in  glimpses 
from  under  the  gray  overcoat  that  this  chilling 
weather  renders  a  very  comlortable  investment; 
and  those  tall  boxes  on  either  side  of  the  en- 
trances, which  we  must  not  mistake  for  elon- 
gated dog-houses,  nor  for  while  collins,  are  the 
sentry-bo.xes  for  the  use,  when  on  duty,  o( 
these  good-looking  members  of  the  "Coldstream 
Guards." 

A  little  farther  this  way,  and  within  ear-shot, 
(not  to  mention  musket-shot,)  of  St.  James',  is 
the  celebrated  "hell"  of  "Old  Crocky,"  as  its 


18 

proprietor.  Jlr.  Crockford,  is  ftimiliarly  termed, 
it  istliemoM  extraordinary  and  most  aristocratic 
gaming  e#tal)li.*liment,  perhaps,  in  the  world;  but 
it  has  been  so  minutely  descriljed  in  every  lan- 
guage a.<  to  render  all  description  on  our  part  su- 
perfluous. Mr.  C,  who  i.s  a  very  illiterate  cha* 
racier,  has  realized  a  princely  fortune  from  it. 
His  cellar  of  wines  alone,  is  said  to  be  worth 
three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  His 
cook  is  the  renowned  M.  Ude.  at  a  salary  of  five 
th'usand  dollars  per  annum,  llis  prolits  are  put 
dowu  at  half  a  million  of  dollars  in  the  year. 
And  we  see  it  slated,  that,  on  a  certain  occasion, 
the  enormous  sum  of  five  millions  of  dollars  was 
'•turned  over,"  i.  e.  won  and  lost,  by  different 
branches  of  the  nobility,  at  this  house,  in  the 
course  of  one  evening  of  eight  hours! 

Hundreds  have  entered  these  golden  saloons, 
full  of  the  joyous  hopes  and  exhilarating  pros- 
pects thiit  awaited  ilieni  as  the  possessors  of  in- 
calculable wealth,  and  have  come  out  besrgars  in 
pur.se,  and  something  worse  in  principle — wilh- 
out  even  the  excuse  of  'he  ancients  who,  it  in 
said,  invented  play  in  order  to  forget  hunger,  and 
indulged  in  dice  as  a  sort  of  substitute  for  dinner. 
JMany  a  one,  no  doubt,  has  walked  this  very 
gravel  path,  after  an  evening  spent  in  that  mag- 
nificent pile,  in  a  slate  of  mental  agony  that  only 
the  unsuccessful  gamester  can  realize;  and  has, 
gazed  into  those  cool  waters  from  which  only 
the  tiny  iron  barrier  separated  him,  with  an  in- 
clination that  had  very  little  to  do  with  the  bright 
romances  of  youth,  or  the  luxurious  suppers  and 
recherche  wines,  (ihe  envy  of  monarcbs,)  with 
which  Crockford  adroitly  embellishes  the  high- 
way to  destruction'. 

These  other  buildings  are  the  domiciles  of  dis- 
tinguished n^en.  They  are  on  the  left,  as  we  pro- 
ceed; to  liie  right,  the  Park  extends  its  verdant 
bosom  to  the  triumphal  arch  at  the  junction  of 
Grosvener  Place  and  Picc-adilly.  That  gentle 
swell  which  you  perceive  between  us  and  Hyde 
Park  corner  is  called  Conslitnlion  Hill,  and  those 
sheep  you  see  nibbling  the  gra.ss  upon  it,  and 
looking  so  dirty,  fat  and  innocent — they  are  evi- 
dently mis-placed  here  by  design,  it  may  be  to 
add  a  pastoral  feature  to  the  scene,  and  it  may  be 
to  prepare  themselves  for  the  i?overeign's  table. 

Perhaps  you  will  ask  what  is  this  broad  car- 
riage-way, and  what  these  extremely  wide  foot- 
paths, all  fringed  with  regular  rows  of  stately 
trees,  and  cutting  ofl"  our  passage  in  this  direction? 
Look  to  the  right.  Observe  where  the  splendid 
avenui's  lead  to.  That  lofty,  and  not  inelegant 
striuilnre,  the  approach  to  which  is  through  an- 
otlier  triumphj»l  arch,  with  another  couple  of 
bayonets,  crimson  coats,  gray  surlouts  and  while 
gloves,  beside  it,  was  once  Buckingham  House, 
and  is  now  Buckiiidwm  Palace — the  winter 
home  of  P>iitaiH's  (iueen.  It  is  of  stone,  and 
tv.i!iiewUat  cliiboraic  ju  its  style,  but,  either  from 


DU  SOLLE  S 

the  rain  and  wind  llial  dim  our  vision,  or  tJie 
smoke  that  has  dimmed  its  greatness,  it  does  nel 
wear,  to  us,  that  imposing  grandeur  and  costli' 
ness  of  appearance  which  one  would  expect  to 
see  characterize  the  "local  habitation"  of  the 
ruler  of  so  great  and  opulent  a  people.  Honestly 
speaking,  it  is  about  the  size,  and  cer'ainly  not 
as  handsome  a  strudure,  as  the  City  Hall,  Newr 
York  The  latter  has,  to  be  sure,  the  advantage 
of  color,  and  a  transparent  atmospliere.  Marble 
is  rarely  used  in  Txndon,  and  when  used,  rapicfly 
becomes  as  dingy  as  granite.  What  new  l^eau- 
hes  Buckingham  Palace,  tlierefore.  might  present 
us,  if  purified  in  its  exterior  and  viewed  by  the 
broad  glare  of  an  American  sunlight,  we  will  not 
pretend  to  conjecture. 

Let  us  approach  the  Palaee.  Muskets  bristle 
at  every  entrance.  How  much  the  uniform  of 
th-'se  Guards  reminds  ns  of  Col.  Page's  company 
of  State  Fencibles  of  Philadelphia !  The  two  are 
really  fac-similes  of  each  other.  And.  saving 
our  national  prejudice  against  the  sanguinary  hue 
of  the  cloth,  the  unif(»rm  is  very  pretty.  Those 
tall  fur  caps,  however,  are  out  of  proportion  ex- 
cepting on  the  l»ea(]s  of  m-"n  afwve  the  medium 
heiglit.  The  Fencibles  have  an  e\'e  to  Ibis  fact, 
but  some  of  ilie  Guards  have  ludicrously  under- 
looked  it  when  contemplating  llicir  own  im- 
portance. 

Now  we  turn  to  the  left  again,  and  pursue  thi» 
carriage  road  until  it  debouches  into  James  st. 
St.  James'  Park,  which  we  have  thus  neglected, 
is  a  lovely  spot,  and  wc  w  ill  traverse  it  as  we  re- 
turn. We  choose  this  route  tollie  Abbey  because 
it  takes  us  through  the  abodes  of  indigence  and 
wretchedness.  We  have  just  passed  the  homes 
of  luxury,  opulence  and  authority,  and  there  i.s 
nothing  like  a  bold  contrast  to  perfect  a  menial 
picture.  Poverty  and  wealth,  want  and  abiui- 
dance,  form  the  chiaroscuro,  Ihe  bright  lights 
and  intense  shadows  of  Life's  landscape ;  and 
there  is  not  a  better  remedy  in  the  books  for  eri- 
nui  than  tlie  contemplation  of  human  misery.  If 
you  feel  sad,  or  discontented,  wander  amid  the 
abiding  places  of  those  who  Iiave  incomparably 
greater  reason  to  complain  of  the  dispensations 
of  Providence.  You  will  find  it  more  elficacious 
than  all  the  verbosity  of  Seneca  and  Hippocrates. 
The  recipes  ol'  the  one,  or  the  philosophy  of  the 
other,  will  furnish  no  such  spirit  of  contentment 
— which,  after  all,  is  the  true  elixir  of  human  fe- 
licity. 

A  host  of  little,  dark,  crooked  and  dirty  lanes 
ontstreich  themselves  here,  like  the  iamifieation.s 
of  a  sjtider's  web.  to  catch  the  reckless  or  the 
unsophisticated.  Vice  holds  her  court  in  this 
region  as  extensively  as  upon  the  other  side  of 
the  I'alace.  Itiit  her  ministers  and  subjects  belong 
to  a  very  dillcrcnt  stratum  of  society.  Despair 
in  nigs  and,  despair  in  robes  are  not  the  same  in- 
dividuals, however  physiologically  identical; 
and  while  llxj  ruined  at  Crockfurd's  may  beiiold 


LETTERS. 


19 


a  Circe  in  Ihc  Sorpenline,  ilio  undone  in  Ihi* 
vicinity  are  nn»re  likely  to  gnze  into  tint  Thames, 
or  einl)raoe  the  mirrnred  rolled  ion  ot"  the  new 
Piirlianient  House*  from  the  marble  balustrade  of 
Westminster  bridge,  which  is  quite  as  ci>nve- 
iiieut. 

One  is  strnelc  here  with  the  multiplied  evi- 
dences of  crime  and  poverty.  Children  run 
about  half-naked  JVlen  and  women  sneak  into 
and  out  of  surreptitious  gin-shops,  with  big-bellied 
bottles  vainly  concealed  beneath  cloaks  whose 
gaping  mouths  betray  at  once  their  own  and  their 
I  wearer's  infirmity.  Painted  cheeks  and  sinister 
eyes  meet  your  gaze  on  projecting  diior-sills, 
while  red  hands  seem  to  grasp  at  your  coat- 
pockets  from  blind  alleys  and  suspicious  window- 
panes.  We  miss,  however,  one  index  of  desti- 
tution, "wherever  you  .sees  poverty,  there  you 
sees  oysters,"  observes  the  sagacious  t^aniivel 
Welter;  and  we  have  often  remarked,  in  Ameri- 
can cities,  that  oyster-cellars  are  nowhere  so  sin- 
gularly abundant  as  in  the  very  purlieus  of  want 
and  licentiousness.  The  observation  will  not 
hold  good  in  London.  Oy.sters,  like  all  other 
edibles,  are  costly,  though,  in  this  country;  and 
the  best,  (which  are  called  "native,"  and  are  ex- 
posed in  shop-windows,  with  the  shells  nicely 
cleaned,  in  tubs  of  water,)  are  extremely  small 
indeed,  possessing,  besides,  a  somewhat  unplea- 
sant metallic  flavor.  I'overty  could  not  make 
much  out  of  such  honnropathic  do.ses  of  food, 
whether  as  purchaser  or  retailer,  unless,  in  the 
latter  case,  it  combined  the  sale  of  the  infinites- 
lual  luxury  with  some  other  pursuit,  and 

"Soniciiiiics  Kold,  perchance,  a  li.sh. 
And  sometimes  soIimI  it  .slioc." 
We  observed  that  fresh  herrings  are  universally 
'  consumed  in  this  ipiarter.  They  are  very  cheap, 
and  every  shop  window  is  big  with  intelligence 
of  their  price  and  ipiality.  They  seem  to  lie,  loo, 
a  li>h  suited  to  (his  sinful  locality;  and,  it  appears 
to  us,  the  millionaire-moralists  of  London  would 
do  well,  when  they  have  no  "other  lish  to  fry," 
to  turn  their  attention  towards  what  a  cockney 
would  call,  these  'erring  people. 

Before  tis,  now,  rise  the  two  tall  towers  of 
Westminster  Abbey.  Wc  know  them  at  aglance. 
IIow  sombre  the  huge  building  looks  as  we  ap- 
proach ill  Yet  how  fiiU  of  sublime  majesty  is 
its  solemn  time-worn  proptn-tionsl  We  in.stinc- 
tively  lift  our  hat  as  we  diaw  nigli.  We  rever- 
ence old  age — particularly  the  wonderful  old  age 
of  a  life  so   replete   with   world-renowned  and 

'  spirit-stirring  events.  This  is  one  of  the  proud 
monuments  of  our  nature,  "a  little  lower  than  the 
angels."  For  centuries  have  those  grey  walls 
withstood  the  assaults  of  Time;  yet  there  they 

}  stand,  as  indigent  of  fear,  as  scornfully  indomi- 
table, as  when  they  (irsi  threw  down  the  gauntlet 
to  old  Chronos.  One  could  stand  and  muse  for 
Lours  OH  their  hoary  front,  linding  -sermons  in 


stones"  indeed,  and  listening  to  the  many  totich- 
ing  tales  they  would  have  to  relate  of  by-gone 
days,  and  dim  and  distant  eras  of  humanity. 

In  walking  around  the  building  a  sensation  of 
awe  overshadows  the  sunshine  of  one's  spirit. 
The  song  of  yonder  carpenter  at  his  work,  almost 
makes  one  sick — its  merry  strain  has  in  it  so 
much  of  sacrilege,  when  heard  amid  the  funeral 
chambers  of  a  so  sacred  spot.  Even  the  little 
bird,  that  has  perched  himself  upon  the  top  of  one 
of  the  sculptured  pinnacles  of  elaborate  work- 
manship th-it  ornament  the  flying  buttresses  of  the 
Chapel  of  Henry  VIL  has  broke  out  into  a  cheer- 
ful whistle  that  seems  horribly  dissonant,  and 
we  should  feel  wonderfully  like  awaking  him  to 
asen.se  of  decency,  could  we  perceive  a  pebble- 
stone within  reach  of  vis,  adapted  to  the  purpose. 

Let  us  enter.  Those  black  gowns  glidingabont 
the  aisles,  and  disappearing  in  the  cloistered 
gloom  at  intervals,  are  not  apparitions,  though  at 
this  distance  they  might  seem  so.  They  arc  the 
familiars  of  the  place— the  vergers— the  living 
worms  amid  this  pile  of  motildering  mortality — 
and  one  of  them  will  ask  for  sixpence  directly — 
an  admirable  mode  of  dispelling,  for  the  moment, 
all  the  romantic  associations  of  the  spot,  and 
bringing  you  back  from  the  tenth  and  eleventh 
centuries  to  Anno  Homini  181'). 

An  arched  door  opens,  and  the  interior  of  the 
Abbey  lies  before  tis  in  grand  perspective  and  in 
all  its  antique  and  dreary  magnificence.  The  sim 
at  this  moment  has  struggled  himself  through  a 
cloud,  and  as  if  to  heighten  the  scene,  has  poured 
a  rich  stream  of  glory  through  the  gorgeously 
painted  glass  of  the  tall  windows  of  one  of  the 
transepts.  It  is  beautiful !  That  little  bit  of  sun- 
light has  infu.sed  a  new  life  into  the  old  walls. 
The  rosc-vvindow,  and  the  marigold- window,  re- 
fleet  back  the  day-beam  from  their  multitudinous 
and  picturesquely  colored  panes,  and  a  thousand 
before  hidden  attractions  leap  into  sight.  The 
gigantic  dimensions  of  the  building  now  break 
upon  the  eye  in  all  their  iiumensity,  and  the  huge, 
clustering  columns  stand  out  in  bold  relief,  their 
vast  arches  rushing  up  into  the  dark  vault  above, 
as  if  to  secrete  themselves  from  hmuan  observa- 
tion. 

We  pass  on,  holding  our  breath  at  the  pro- 
found stillness  that  gives  to  our  footsteps  so  hol- 
low a  sound  upon  these  teslated  marble  pave- 
ments, and  listening  to  the  mysterious  reverbera- 
tions that  seem  to  be  eommunicaling  from  one 
extreme  of  the  hallowed  pile  to  the  other  the  pre- 
sence of  an  outer-world  intruder.  We  tread 
sot"tly  here,  for  we  are  amid  a  crowded  asseird)ly 
of  the  dead.  The  sombre  arcadt!S  ;  the  massy  pil- 
lars crumbling  slowly  beneath  the  touch  of  age  ; 
the  mural  monuments  discolored  by  time;  the 
damp  walls ;  the  marble  figures  of  Kings,  (Queens, 
Nobles,  Warriors,  and  iniired  I'lelales  sirewod 
around;  and  over  all   the  slow  lingcr-work  of 


20  DU  SOLLE'S 

decay,  obliterating  the  running  of  the  chisel,  and 
mocking  at  human  pomp,  power  and  display: 
they  conjure  up,  in  the  dread  hush  of  this  peopled 
solitude,  a  thousand  im:iges  of  dismay,  until  one's 
blood  runs  cold,  and  a  vague  fear  induces  one  to 
look  around  involuntarily  for  escape  from  the  liv- 
ing sepulchre. 


and  wealth  could  command,  to  render  it  a  fit  .»e- 
piilchre  for  the  wildest  and  haughtiest  drsamer  of 
immortality. 


And  here  we  pause  for  the  moment.  Our  let- 
ter will  grow  too  long,  and  having  gotten  the 
reader  among  the  tombs,  we  leave  him,  until  our 
next  number,  to  his  meditations. 

Di;  SoLLE. 


NO.  VIJI. 

Westminister  Abbey— Chapel  Henry  VTI— Genl. 
Wolfe— IMaj.  Andre— odd  epitaphs— the  ^reat 
Pitt— sculpture— Poet's  Corner— Westminister 
Hall  — Queen's  Bench  —  Lord  Denman  —  St. 
James  Park— the  lake,  shrubberies,  birds,  &.c. 
—home. 

London,  20  Nov.,  1845. 
We  had  our  reader  with  us,  in  our  last,  wan- 
dering amid  tne  lofty  arcades  and  massive  mag- 
nificence of  Westminister  Abbey. 

Is  it  not  a  glorious  old  pile  !  a  fit  mausoleum 
for  kings !  Tread  lightly ;  for  here  lie  not  only 
the  embalmed  relics  of  those  who  have  filled  the 
world  with  terror  at  their  gigantic  ambition,  but 
the  remains,  too,  of  those  gentle  beings,  whose 
quaint  thoughts  are  identified  with  all  the  kind- 
lier feelings  of  humanity,  whose  very  souls  seem 
a  part  of  our  own,  and  with  whom  we  have 
held  sweet  converse  in  books  from  childhood 
Here  they  repose,  God  bless  them  !  Shakspeare, 
Pope,  Addison,  Gay  and  the  whole  noble  phalanx 
of  Earth's  mighty  minds.  What  is  the  hollow 
pageantry  of  Kings,  compared  to  the  solitary  tear 
of  honest  feeling  that  swells  up  unbidden  to  the 
memory  of  these  benefactors  of  mankind  !  Even 
the  stranger  from  a  far-ofl;"  land  pauses  in  sincere 
homage  at  their  names,  and  turns  with  a  sigh 
from  their  simple  greatness,  to  contemplate  the 
parish  grandeur  of  the  beds  of  monarchy,  as 
but  so  many  bitter  lessons  of  humility  I 

Let  us  saunter  on.  The  nine  or  ten  side  chapels 
of  the  Abbey  are  all  occupied  with  the  monu- 
ments of  illustrious  men.  This  one  before  us  is 
the  royal  chapel  of  Henry  VK.  It  is  gorgeous  in 
its  magnificence.  A  sumptuous  brazen  railing, 
with  brazen  gates,  surround  the  tomb  on  which 
lie  stretched  the  marble  effigies  of  Henry  and 
Elizabeth.  Everything  around  is  costly  and  ele- 
gant. The  fretted  roof  of  marble,  exquisitely 
sculptured;  the  gold  purple  banners,  now  torn, 
faded  and  dusty,  of  the  Knights  of  the  Bath;  these 
proud  stalls,  upon  the  pinnacles  of  which  are 
Buspended  an  army  of  scarfs,  helmets,  crests  and 
.swords,  that  almost  breaihe  of  chivalry;  the 
walls  laden  with  elaborate  sculpture,  encrusted 
wiih  delicate  tracery,  or  scooped  into  niches 
filled  wiih  the  statues  of  martyrs  and  saints: 
uolhing  has  been  spared  that  taste,  luxury  and 


What  a  multitude  of  titles  meet  as  as  we  stroll 
around — lilies  made  familiar  by  history.  Here  is 
a  chaste  monument  to  Geid.  Wolfe,  who  fell  at 
Quebec,  and  there  is  a  chaste  one  lo  Major  Audre. 
Yes,  every  American  knows  his  brief  career. 
His  fate  is  prettily  glozed  over  by  ihe  artist,  and 
— but  let  that  pass.  Here  too,  is  Sir  Isaac  New- 
ton, and  a  hundred  others  lie  around,  whose  fame 
's  common  property,  and  who  belong  not  to 
England,  but  to  the  world. 

What  rare  old  epitapl  s !  What  ingenious 
monuments  I  What  a  strange  confusion  of  con- 
ditions! Here  reposes  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots, 
looking  lovely  even  in  stone,  her  errors  forgotlea 
in  our  sympathy  for  her  misfortunes.  Opposite 
to  her,  sleeps  Queen  Elizabeth,  her  enemy  to  the 
grave — an  enmity  we  can  almost  trace  in  the 
carved  tightness  of  the  lip  and  nostril,  that  ai-e 
turned  towards  her  beautiful  rival.  Here  we 
behold  the  noble  minded  Pitt — the  acute  states- 
man and  the  honest  man.  When  it  was  heresy 
to  speak  the  truth,  he  raised  himself  from  his 
sick-bed,  and  with  his  trembling  finger  pointing 
toward  the  West,  dared  to  confront  an  English 
Parliament  and  say,  "I  rejoice  that  America  has 
resisted  !  Three  millions  of  people  so  dead  to  all 
the  feelings  of  liberty  as  voluntarily  to  be  slaves, 
would  have  been  fit  instruments  to  make  slaves 
of  all  the  rest."  Yes;  here  lies  the  great  Pitt,  and 
beyond  him  his  eloquent  antagonist,  the  celebra- 
ted Fox.  Earls,  Marquises,  Generals,  Poets, 
Admirals,  fee,  are  scattered  about  and  intermixed 
with  curious  irregularity.  The  loving  and  the 
loved ;  the  hating  and  the  hated  ;  the  hanghty  and 
the  humble;  all  repose  tranquilly  in  their  marble 
beds,  iheir  hopes,  their  fears,  their  animosities, 
their  prejudices  and  their  dignity,  alike  forgotten 
in  the  common  republicanism  of  the  grave. 

The  chapel  of  St.  Edward  the  Confessor,  in 
front  of  the  choir,  now  arrests  otu-  steps.  In  the 
midst  of  it  stands  the  shrine  in  which  the  ashes  of 
that  pious  but  superstitious  sovereign  are  entomb- 
ed. On  the  t'rieze  of  a  mutilated,  but  still  impo- 
sing screen,  are  sculptured  the  leading  events  in 
his  legendary  history.  Those  rough  oak  chairs, 
rudely  gilded,  are  the  coronation  chairs ;  and  that 
common-looking  stone,  fixed  in  the  frame  of  one, 
is  said  to  be  the  very  stone  of  which  Jacob  made 
a  pillow  when  he  had  his  beatific  dream  in  Pales- 
tine. Tradition,  we  suspect,  only  plays  in  this, 
her  usual  part,  in  the  great  game  of  delusion.  The 
tombs  of  several  Kings  and  Queens,  with  recum- 
bent elligies  upon  them — the  female  figures  with 
particularly  small  wai.<ts !  are  around  us  in  tliis 
chapel.  A  beautiful  monumental  chapel,  also 
enriched  with  statues  and  sculpture,  surmounts 
the  tomb  of  Henry  V.  The  figure  of  the  King  is 
headless.     The  head   happened   to  be  cast  iu 


silver.  Some  rogiio,  discovering  the  fact  has 
manifested  his  aflection  for  the  King  by  abstract- 
ing it. 

Let  us  nscend  again  the  shrine  of  Edward. 
What  a  view  presents  itself!  The  aisles,  the 
walls,  all  seem  peopled  with  life.  Dusky  figures 
appear  kneelins:  on  cushions,  or  lying  in  state, 
with  hands  upraised  to  Heaven  in  supplication. 
Here  Death  is  leaping  from  out  a  gaping  tomb, 
his  dart  poised  for  the  bosom  of  a  drooping  fe- 
male, while  her  husband  madly  seeks  to  avert  the 
blow.  There,  again,  Death  is  grovelling  in  the 
dust  beneath  the  tread  of  Time,  who  proudly 
points  to  the  rescue  and  coming  immortality  of 
the  anticipated  victim.  Grim  warriors,  with  all 
the  panoply  of  battle  at  their  side,  look  as  if 
snatching  on  their  arms,  a  brief  repose.  The  mo- 
saic pavement  before  the  altar-piece  grows  dim. 
One  can  almost  fancy  that  if  gapes,  and  that  from 
its  dark  bosom  misty  forms  ascend  from  their 
chambers  in  the  grave,  and  noiselessly  glide  into 
their  places  beneath  the  coroneted  stones  that 
speak  of  their  illustrious  deeds.  A  laugh  from 
some  new  visitor  dispels  the  solemn  illusion ; 
and  with  a  feeling  of  pity  for  the  costly  efforts  of 
pride  and  ambition  to  rescue  themselves  for  a  few 
years  from  forgetfulness,  we  prepare  to  return. 

This  cross-aisle  or  transept,  by  which  we  re- 
tire, is  commonly  known  as  "Poet's  Corner."  It 
is  chiefly  appropriated  lo  the  remains  of  men  of 
Letters.  Handel  has  the  most  elegant  monument 
in  this  division  of  the  Abbey.  Shakspeare  has 
also  been  thus  eulogized  in  marble.  His  statue 
is  a  very  beautiful  piece  of  sculpture.  His  right 
hand  points  to  a  scroll  upon  which  are  graven 
some  of  his  own  immortal  words,  viz  : 

"Its  Cloiid-oapt  Towers, 
Its  (lorgcdiis  Palaoes, 
Its  Soleinii  Temples. 
Yea,  the  neat  Gldlie  itself, 
And  all  wliirli  ii  Inherit, 
Shall  Dissolve, 
And  like  the  liasclevs  Fal)riek  of  a  Vision, 
Leave  not  a  wrci;k  liehiiid." 

Addi.«on  has  tbuud  a  friend  proud  to  honor  him  with 
a  monument;  but  Chaucer,  Spencer,  Gay,  Dryden, 
Jonson,  Milton,  Butler  and  the  rest,  have  gene- 
rally plain  tablets,  medallions,  or  simple  inscrip- 
tions, contributed  by  some  titled,  poslliumous 
patron,  who  has,  in  nearly  every  case,  taken  es- 
pecial pains  to  blazen  his  own  munificence,  and 
commend  its  remembrance  to  posterity,  along 
with  the  merits  and  virtues  of  the  deceased. 

"The  poet's  fate  is  here  in  EmMeiii  .fhewn. 
He  asked  for  bread  and  be  received  a  stone." 

It  is  a  question  whether  the  dead  or  the  living  are 
the  more  exalted  by  such  flattery.  These  master- 
spirits have  carved  out  their  own  monuments — 
monuments  that  will  endure  as  long  as  language 
is  made  the  vehicle  of  thought — and  a  few  bits  of 
stone,  or  a  few  empty  words,  more  or  less,  can 
neither  add  to,  nor  diminish  their  claims  upon  the 
grateful  rem«rabrance  of  mankind. 


LETTERS.  21 

\Vc  make  our  exit  through  an  arched  d(X)r-way 
in  tho  thick  wall,  and  in  a  moment  how  changed 
the  scene !  How  fresh  the  air  smells !  We  enter 
the  old  Palace  Yard,  now  a  goodly  street,  and  are 
surprised  to  find  that  we  have  spent  several  hours 
among  the  dead.  The  clock  of  the  Al>bey  is 
tolling  three;  but  the  sun  is  smiling  gaily,  the 
clouds  have  nearly  all  vanished,  and  we  can  yet 
take  time  to  make  observations  on  our  way  home. 
The  streets  are  smoky,  of  course,  for  they  are 
never  otherwise ;  but  then  they  look  so  cheerful 
and  companionable  afler  our  solitary  communion 
with  the  quiet,  the  long  past  and  gone. 


This  largo  building  opposite  lo  us  is  West- 
minster Hall.  By  the  idlers  around  its  door,  we 
perceive  that  the  Court  of  Queen's  Bench  is  in 
session.  Suppose  we  take  a  glance  at  its  pro- 
ceedings. Let  us  enter.  Those  gentlemen  in 
black,  flowing  gowns,  with  large,  coarse,  white 
wigs  upon  their  heads,  are  barristers.  They 
reach  the  Court-room  by  that  private  door.  We 
pursue  this  passage-way,  turn  to  the  left,  ascend 
a  step  or  two,  and  are  in  the  presence  of  the  pre- 
sumed ministers  of  justice. 

It  is  very  unlike  the  simplicity  of  similar  pub- 
lic places  in  the  United  States.  The  judges, 
seated  beneath  that  carved  canopy,  are  also 
clothed  in  black  gowns  and  white  wigs — the  up- 
per portion  of  the  gown,  if  our  eyes  deceive  us 
not,  being  trimmed  with  real  or  fictitious  ermine. 
The  costume  is  startling  to  a  stranger,  but  when 
one  gets  accustomed  to  the  sight,  it  seems  appro 
priate,  and  it  is  probably  calculated  to  inspire 
respect  on  the  part  of  the  multitude.  This  seems 
the  more  necessary  in  a  nation  where  the  masses 
have  so  small  a  voice  in  the  preparation  of  the 
laws  which  govern  them,  and  hence  are  naturally 
less  disposed  to  esteem  those  who  interpret  or 
administer  them. 

That  stout  gentleman  in  the  central  seat  upon 
the  bench,  with  his  head  leaning  upon  his  hand, 
and  a  pair  of  frowning  eyes  directed  towards  the 
door,  is  the  Chief  Justice,  Lord  Deninan.  He 
has  acquired  some  celebrity,  and  if  he  were  in 
any  other  mood,  it  would  be  interesting  to  peruse 
his  countenance.  Just  now  he  is  probably  medi- 
tating vengeance  upon  the  delinquent  whose 
name  has  been  called  repeatedly,  but  who,  con- 
ceiving with  Pope,  perchance,  that  a  "no7i  est 
man  is  the  noblest  work,"  &c.,  refu.«es  to  bring 
his  auriculars  within  reach  of  the  Judge's  vocal 
organ.  The  court-room  seems  to  be  very  limit- 
ed; it  is  chiefly  taken  up  with  those  divisions  re- 
sembling church-pews,  and  intended  for  the  ac- 
conunodation  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  bar;  to  re- 
main here  long  is,  therefore,  uncomfortable.  So 
allons. 

That  wide  street  to  the  left  will  conduct  us  to 
Westminster  Bridge,  but  as  we  approach  it,  cast 
back  a  look  at  that  statue  of  Mr.  Canning.    Do 


22 

you  recollect  hi«  fate?    Energetic  but  impulsive,    j 
he  was  hurried  to  his  grave  by  the  relentless  an- 
tagonism and  persecution,  as  Premier,  of  the 
present  ministers.    Their  hostility  to  one  of  his    | 
noblest  and  most  philanthropic  principles,  drove 
him  from  both  power  and  existence;   yet  they    i 
have  involuniarilydone  homage  to  his  statesman-    j 
ship  by  carrymg  out  the  very  scheme  of  public    1 
policy,  for  suggesting  and  pursuing  which  they    j 
hunted  him  into  his  resting  place  in  the  Aljbey.    j 
There  is  one  thing  we  really  admire  in  Great    j 
Britain — she  never  forgets  the  great  men  who    | 
sacrifice  themselves  in  public  service.     When    l 
their  voice   is  no  longer  heard  in  the  Senate-    ] 
house,  or  when  the  cannon  no  more  peats  its    j 
thunder  at  their  bidding,  they  still  live  in  storied 
marble.    The  people  are  made  to  gaze  upon  their 
sculptured  elTigies  in  the  public  streets,  or  in  some 
ancient  hall  endeared  to  history,  and  ruminating 
upon  their  glory,  to  feel  a  new  impulse  to  noble 
deeds  or  patriotic  exertions. 

But  here  is  "Westminster  Bridge.  Observe  how 
deeply  the  carriage-way  is  sunk  below  the  level 
of  the  side-paths.  The  whole  structure  appears 
to  be  of  stone,  and  on  either  side  is  a  heavy  mar- 
ble balastrade  that  must  have  been  exceedingly 
costly  in  its  execution.  This  is  rather  an  infe- 
rior bridge,  we  are  told,  in  comparison  with  the 
half  dozen  or  more  that  serve  to  connect  London 
with  its  other,  certainly  not  its  'belter'  half  over 
the  river.  Still,  the  travel  over  this  highway  is 
wonderful.  The  mud,  which  you  see  is  being 
scraped  off  for  the  second  time  to-day,  and  ave- 
rages a  depth  now,  of  at  lea.st  three  inches,  is 
evidence  enough  of  this.  But  stay,  let  us  enu- 
merate the  contents  of  the  bridge,  at  this  mo- 
ment, for  our  amusement.  There  are,  one,  two, 
three,  yes,  four  omnibusses,  two  wagons,  a 
coach,  five  private  vehicles,  a  cat,  and  a  dozen 
of  oxen,  in  the  middle-way,  and  just  twenty-six 
foot  passengers,  crossing  it  at  this  in-stant.  Enough, 
in  all  conscience. 

A  good  view  of  the  Thames,  (pronounced 
Tems — how  the  English  do  clip  off  their  word.s!) 
is  afforded  at  this  point.  The  new  Parliament 
Houses,  in  progress  of  erection,  may  be  srazed  at 
for  hours.  They  are  very  extensive,  and  when 
finished,  will  present  a  noble  front  to  the  river. 
To  our  taste  their  is  nothing  comparable  to  them, 
at  present,  in  London.  The  Thames,  here,  is 
about  the  size  of  the  Schuyllcill;  and  were  it  not 
for  the  beautiful  dwellings  that  adorn  its  margin 
and  sweep  down  to  its  water's  edge,  would  be, 
with  its  muddy  hue,  a  dull  stream.  The  towers, 
the  monuments,  the  steeples,  the  palaces,  the  air 
ol  wealth  and  grandeur  that  pervades  its  vicinity, 
bestow  upon  it  quite  a  look  of  romance,  some 
times,  singularly  inconsistent  with  its  intrinsic 
insignificance. 


We  leave  the  bridge,  and  taking  our  way  along 


DU  SOLLE  S 

this  broad  tlioroughfare — George  st. — we  enter 
the  upper  end  of  St.  James  Park.  Here  is  sta 
tioned  another  .soldier.  He  look-s  to  see  if  we 
have  a  dog  with  us  as  we  pass,  £is  only  bipeds  are 
admitted  to  this  charming  promenade.  Let  us 
take  this  pretty  Utile  gravel-walk.  It  conducts 
us  to  the  margin  of  a  picturesque  sheet  of  water, 
a  miniature  lake,  temptingly  quiet  and  pellucid. 
Above  us,  a  pettit  peninsular  is  crowned  with  a 
tiny  cottage,  poetic  in  its  very  form,  cc^lor  and 
position.  Below,  where  the  stream  winds  its  silver 
way,  you  may  see  a  wooded  island,  the  music  of 
whose  feathered  songsters,  secure  in  their  shady 
retreat,  you  can  almost  hear  at  this  distance.  Is 
not  this  a  lovely  spot  ?  See  with  what  taste  the 
shrubberies  are  interspersed.  The  indigenous 
and  exotic  plants  are  all,  you  pierceive,  carefully 
labelled  to  gratify  the  student  of  tx>tany.  In  sum- 
mer this  must  be  delightful  I  What  a  place  for 
lovers  '  Here  are  benches,  too,  at  intervals,  for 
the  weary.  And  only  mark  the  confidence  of  the 
birds !  They  fly  down  from  the  trees,  and  hop 
up  to  us  with  a  chirp  I  chirp  I  chirp!  as  if  the 
little  mendicants  knew  we  had  a  biscuit  in  our 
pocket,  and  were  sure  we  would  give  it  to  them. 

And  so  we  will.  We  love  birds,  for  they  al- 
ways seem  so  happy.  Our  little  store  is  soon 
emptied  upon  the  path ;  but  here  come  other 
claimants  upon  our  bounty.  Two  swans,  and  a 
flock  of  aquatic  birds  of  various  kinds  rush 
across  the  lake,  and  presuming  upon  our  good 
nature,  dispute  at  our  feet,  with  the  birds,  for  the 
provision.  Well,  let  them  eat.  The  birds  have 
actually  perched  themselves  upon  our  person,  and 
the  swans  are  examining  our  hands  with  their 
broad  bills,  petitioning  (or  something  additional. 
It  is  amusing  to  watch  the  little  creatures,  their 
eves  dancing  with  anxious  avidity,  and  their  mo- 
tions exhibiting  such  mutual  jealousy  of  even 
the  favors  of  a  stranger. 

An  official  in  livery  approaches.  He  is  doubt- 
less one  of  those  to  whose  care  the  Park  is 
committed.  He  drives  our  mute  companions 
awav,  and  suggests  that  in  feeding  them  we  have 
been  superseding  him  in  one  of  his  functions'. 
Why  the  I'ellow  is  as  inflated  with  his  importance, 
and  as  jealous  of  power  as  that  King  of  Prussia 
who,  we  are  told,  went  so  far  as  to  arrogate  the 
right  to  regulate  all  the  mouse-traps  in  his  do- 
minions. Humph  I  one  w.  uid  think  that  ho 
should  thank  us  for  having  gratuitously  dimin- 
ished his  daily  labor.  But,  ''alas  I"  as  Valerie 
exclaims,  "who  is  grateful,  except  a  dog  and  a 
woman." 

These  gracefully  winding  paths  coquet  wi;h 
the  lake  as  they  go,  here  running  off  as  if  to  ab  ^n- 
i  don  it,  and  anon  returning,  and  embracing  it  for 
i  some  distance,  like  an  ardent  lover.  Promena- 
ders  of  both  sexes,  mo.<tly  of  the  middle  class, 
begin  now  to  apiicar.and  the  walks  present  quite 
an  animated  appearance.  Here  is  the  island  we 
alluded  to.    It  is  small,  but  crowded  with  trees 


LETTERS. 

Qnd  shrul)l)Ory  AnJ  only  li!<ten  to  the  birds ! 
Conversation  is  out  of  the  (|uestioii  amid  this 
concert  of  sweet  sounds.  Ah  I  if  old  Aesophus 
were  living,  who  used  to  give  $J5,000  dinners, 
(actors  must  have  been  well  paid  in  those  ancient 
days.)  made  of  the  tonsrues  of  siiiging:-birds,  how 
this  melody  would  delight  his  senses  both  of 
jicarine  and  digestion  !  But  these  little  rogues 
feel  and  manliest  their  joyous  security.  What  a 
gush  of  song  !  They  are  so  free,  so  fearless,  so 
protected  I  and  that,  too,  in  the  heart  of  this  vast, 
sweltering  tumor  of  mischief  and  misery. 

The  Wellington  barracks,  the  Horse  Guards, 
and  a  mil  itary  chapel  ol'some  pretensions  to  beauty 
are  opposite  us,  and  a  little  to  the  right,  but  hid- 
den by  the  trees.  In  summer,  the  foot  guards 
parade  daily,upon  the  open  space  we  passed  as  we 
entered.  They  are  always  accompanied  by  a  band 
of  music.  If  we  had  time  vve  might  stop  and  ex- 
amine the  long  Turkish  cannon  brought  from 
Alexandria,  and  covered  with  Egyptian  devices, 
and  the  immense  mortar,  employed  at  the  seige 
of  Cadiz  by  Marshal  Soult.  The  latter  was  left 
behind  by  the  French  army  after  the  battle  at 
Salamanca,  and  was  presented  by  the  Spanish 
Regency  to  Great  Britain.  Both  are  to  be  seen 
liere,  we  are  told,  but  it  grows  late  and  chilly, 
and  having  been  absent  all  day  from  the  scent  of 
the  table,  the  "  still  small  voice "  of  appetite 
grows  clamarous  as  well  as  importunate  for  at- 
tention. 

Thank  Heaven  !  Loudon,  with  all  its  peculiari- 
ties, is  abimdantlysupplied  with  materials  for  the 
gratiiication  of  the  most  querulous  palate  and  most 
vigorous  digestion — though,  we  opine,  at  anything 
but  reasonable  prices.  There  was  a  time  when, 
if  we  may  believe  Stow,  the  historian,  it  was  not 
80  well  off,  by  any  means.  When  "  some, 
through  famine,  did  eale  the  flesh  of  their  own 
children ;  and  some  stole  others  which  they  de- 
voured. Theeves  that  wer«  in  prisons  did  plucke 
in  peeces  those  that  were  newly  brought  amongst 
them,  and  greedily  devoured  them  half  alive." 
In  those  days,  the  prices  of  eatables  were  restrain- 
ed by  special  ordinances — twenty  eggs  being 
compulsorily  given  for  a  penny  I  The  only  re- 
straint, at  present,  is  that  arising  from  the  condi" 
tion  of  your  purse  and  the  conscience  of  your  ap- 
petite. A  lively  appreciation  of  the  good  things 
of  .this  life,  without  the  ability  to  enjoy  them  is 
not  amusing  anywhere  ;  but  here,  where  delica- 
cies tempt  you  in  so  many  windows,  it  is  like  the 
Thracian  s;ame  of  tying  one  up  by  the  neck,  put- 
ting a  knife  in  his  fingers  to  rescue  himself  and 
leaving  him  to  die  if  lie  cannot. 

This  brings  us  to  our  hotel.  The  scent  of  din- 
ner is  in  our  nostrils,  which,  ju.st  at  this  moment, 
are  as  acute  as  those  of  the  war-horse  that,  (as 
the  good  book  tells  as,)  "  smelleth  the  battle  afar 
off."    So  now — 


" to  realize  wh.it  we  tliink  rabuloiu 

1'  til'  bill  of  tare  of  Kliimalwlus." 

Yours,  Du  SoLLE. 


23 
NO  IX. 

The  ■\Vcathrr-Thp  Str<>('t«-OiiiiiiliiKK(>R-v('n. 
men's  Stofkinj,'H— Fire  riii;(H— IJiM|iit>iit  DeuJ. 
Walls  — Railway  .SperulutiuiiH  — >*  War  with 
Anifrica"— The  Duke  o/  Welliugton,  and  "all 
that  sort  of  thin;;;." 

Ix)\DON,  Nov.  2-lth,  ISIO. 
Three  days  more  of  solitary  confinement  as  a 
punishment  for  our  ramble  in  "London  weather" 
to  Westminster  Abbey — with  the  incidents  of 
which  ramble  we  made  our  readers  familiar  in 
No's.  7  and  8.  It  will  not  do,  we  perceive,  for 
strangers  to  be  indifferent  to  this  climate.  We 
have  paid  the  penalty  and  the  doctor's  bill,  and 
are  determined  to  be  cautious  in  indulging  in 
similar  transgressions. 

Yet,  it  seems  absurd  to  wait  for  a  "  more  con- 
venient season."  The  sky,  here,  is  most  fickle, 
and  the  weather  perfectly  enigmatical.  If  you 
venture  out  at  early  morn  in  the  midst  of  a  sullen 
storm,  it  is  quite  jiossible  you  may  realize  a  de- 
cent time  before  night,  or  one,  at  any  rate,  upon 
which  you  can  make  yourself  respectably  mise- 
rable ;  if  you  select,  on  the  contrary,  a  cheerful 
sky,  with  a  glimpse  of  the  sun  lighting  up  the 
ragged  edges  of  the  smoke-cloud  that  for  ever 
canopies  the  city  of  London,  you  may  be  just  as 
confident  of  experiencing  an  abominable  rain  be- 
fore noon,  as  if  ILigue  had  promised  it  in  his 
Horoscope,  and  felt  disposed  to  maintain  his  repu- 
tation. 


There  is  not  much  choice,  however,  afforded 
one  in  this  matter ;  for,  to  do  the  weather  justice, 
we  must  say  that  it  has  been  perseveringly  con- 
sistent since  we  have  been  here  :  it  has  rained 
nearly  every  diy.  We  have  been  tempted  to 
exclaim,  with  Richard,  every  twenty-four  hours, 
"Who  has  seen  the  sun  to-day?"  and  we  want 
no  better  proof  than  this  very  natural  expression, 
of  Shakspeare's  faculty  of  observation. 

We  strolled  out  this  morning  without  any  par- 
ticular object  or  destination,  and  we  had  ample 
reason  to  reflect  upon  the  melancholy  infirmity 
of  the  weather.  It  was  laughable,  though,  to  see 
the  ducking  and  bobbing  of  umbrellas  along  th« 
thoroughfares,  overflowing  as  they  were  witb 
such  a  bustling  tide  of  human  life.  The  omni- 
busses,  too,  were  doing  an  excellent  business; 
and  the  cabs — hideous  things  that  they  are,  some 
of  them  resembling  scooped  watermelons,  and 
some,  with  drivers  perched  up  at  the  back  of 
thera,  resembling  nothing  on  this  earth,  nor  "the 
waters  under  the  earih" — the  cabs  were  drivinj^ 
everywhere,  and  perhaps  some  place  else.  In- 
deed these  public  vehicles  appear  to  be  in  con- 
stant demand,  and  arc  considerably  fuller  at  all 
times  of  passengers  than  comfort.  It  is  difficult 
to  get  an  agreeable  ."eat  in  them,  particularly  after 
dinner,  for,  "thirteen  inside,"  implies  a  delicate 
calculation  in  relation  to  arms  and  elbows,  to  say 
nothing  of  a  charitable  allowance  for  superfluous 
flebh. 


24  DU 

London  is  so  capacious,  and  withal  its  princi- 
pal streets  so  crowded  and  so  dirty  that,  if  time 
be  money,  as  the  sage  assures  us,  there  can  be  no 
question  as  to  the  economy  of  a  public  convey- 
ance. Besides  this,  an  omnibus  is  a  capital 
place  for  the  study  of  human  nature,  and  is  suffi- 
ciently tardy  in  its  movements  to  enable  you,  at 
your  leisure,  to  peruse  the  open  page  of  incidents 
presented  in  the  streets. 

We  have  been  going  to  mention  fifty  times,  but 
have  always  avoided  it  so  far,  apprehensive  that 
we  might  not  do  it  discreet!  y  enough  for  American 
ears,  (my  fair  countrymen  are  so  terribly. squeam- 
ish, sometimes  I)  we  have  been  going  to  mention 
a  striking  feature  in  the  habits  of  the  people  of 
London,  arising  from  the  constant  accumulation 
of  mud  upon  the  side-walks.  In  walking,  the 
women  of  all  classes  invariabl  y  raise  their  clothing 
to  an  extent  that  would  fairly  petrify  a  belle  of 
Chestnut  street,  and  throw  certain  delicate  con- 
stitutions into  agonies.  Yet,  when  the  novelty 
of  the  sight  has  worn  off,  it  seems  perfectly  mo- 
dest and  quite  proper.  At  first,  the  exhibition  of 
so  many  white  stockings  is  rather  confusing,  but, 
after  the  lapse  of  a  day  or  two,  one  actually  for- 
gets that  the  practice  has  in  it  anything  singular ; 
and  if  not,  one  becomes  reconciled  to  it  irom  the 
fact  of  the  obvious  necessity^  it  occasions  for  the 
use  of  well-shaped  boots  and  clean  habiliments. 

The  next  thing  that  strikes  one  in  the  street  is 
the  dress  of  the  younger  children.  However 
dressed  otherwise,  all  have  very  short  frocks, 
exceedingly  brief  socks,  and  bare  legs.  Of  a  cold 
day  the  costume,  though  highly  picturesque,  is 
not  exactly  becoming ;  and  when  the  frost  is  about, 
endeavoring  to  impart  to  every  living  thing  a 
keen  perception  of  its  edge  and  temper ;  when 
the  most  taciturn  begin  to  'chatter'  with  suprising 
facility,  and  the  inexpert  in  music  to  'shake'  with 
commendable  perseverance  and  execution,  we 
cannot  help  pitying  the  little  creatures  who  look 
as  if  toddling  about  on  two  beets. 

Talking  about  beets,  (we  have  not  time  to  ex- 
plain the  mental  coincidence,)  reminds  us  that  we 
have  not  yet  seen  a  fire-engine  in  London,  nor 
listened  to  a  single  false  alarm,  nor  heard  of  a 
conflagration.  We  are  aware  that  there  are  ma- 
chines of  some  such  kind  in  the  nietropolis,  for  we 
observe,  painted  on  the  dead  walls,  (as  in  Boston,) 
"F.  P.  18  ft."  &c.,  which  being  duly  translated 
into  the  vernacular,  signifies  that  the  fire-plug  is 
to  be  sought  for,  in  the  earth,  where  it  is  interred, 
18  ft  from  the  hieroglyphics  aforesaid.  Water 
seems  to  be  abundant,  however.  There  are  se- 
veral water- works,  and  one  that  we  saw  at  Chis- 
•wickor  Brentford,  we  forget  which,  was  really 
an  immense,  powerful  and  eflective  concatenation 
of  machinery. 

The  dead  walls  are  put  to  some  other  use  also, 
by  the  public,  besides  that  we  have  mentioned. 


SOLLE'S 

They  are  covered,  a.«  with  us,  with  placar{ls,.antl 
made  the  vehicle  of  information  of  every  de- 
scription. Amongst  the  more  numerous,  and  be- 
sides M.  Jullien's  Grand  Promenade  Concert 
posters,  which  alone  conceal  something  like  an 
acre  of  bricks,  there  are  the  bills  describing  the 
interesting  contents  of  the  several  newspapers, 
with  ingenioas  and  startling  announcements  in 
relation  to  the  109  new  railroads  in  progress  of 
erection,  to  the  anticipated  scarcity  of  corn, 
(wheat,)  or  the  calamitous  failure  of  the  potatoe 
crop  in  Ireland.  Th-rse  three  latter  subjects 
completely  absorb,  just  now,  ihe  popular  atten- 
tion. The  journals  are  full  of  them — the  public 
mouth  is  full  of  ihem — and  our  eyes  meet  wi'h 
nothing  el>e  in  the  shop-windows,  upon  the  big- 
lettered  advertising-carts,  or  upon  the  pedomotivc 
machines,  in  the  shape  of  men,  with  Ixjards 
slung  before  and  behind  upon  the  shoulders,  to 
attract  attention. 

We  confess  that  we  prefer  to  see  advertise- 
ments in  the  newspapers — that  is  but  natural ! 
but  the  general  mind  is  in  such  a  state  of  excite- 
ment, at  this  moment,  Ibat  we  suspect  these  out- 
door remembrancers  are  attended  with  consider- 
able effect,  "since  he  who  runs  may  read"  them, 
without  the  slightest  dilficulty.  And  as  far  as 
railroads  are  concerned,  almost  all  who  run  do 
want  to  read,  for  the  railway-mania  is  epedemi- 
cal,  and  the  most  monstrous  schemes  are  being 
projected  by  artful  speculators,  and  all  London  is 
madly  embarking  capital  in  them  in  the  confident 
hope  of  manufacturing  instantaneous  and  incal- 
culable fortunes.  The  authors  of  the  trick  have 
fabricated,  (upon  paper,)  an  iron  route  from  the 
metropolis  to  every  occasionally-heard-of  point  ia 
the  United  Kingdom,  and  not  a  few  on  the  Con- 
tinent; and  what  is  more,  they  have  adroitly  con- 
trived to  get  everybody  in  a  'line,'  in  more  senses 
than  one,  while,  having  secured  their  own  pri- 
vate interests,  they  are  making  'tracks,'  of  a  cha- 
racter very  unexpected  to  their  credulous  victims. 
In  short,  the  bubble  is  upon  the  point  of  bursting, 
and  the  universal  consternation  may  be  imagined. 
It  would  only  require  3500  millions  of  dollars  to 
complete  the  new  railroads  for  which  companies 
have  been  provisionally  instiuted  thus  far'  or, 
supposing  one  out  of  every  thirty  of  the  men, 
women  and  children  who  inhabit  Great  Britain, 
to  be  addicted  to  travelling,  it  would  only  require 
about  $1400  per  annum,  to  be  expended  by  each 
of  them  in  railroad  fares,  to  enable  the  several 
companies  to  pay  expenses,  and  nett  five  per 
cent,  upon  their  capital! 

Several  journals  have  been  started  on  the 
strength  of  this  Munchausen  speculation,  all,  of 
course,  devoted  to  the  details  and  statistics  of 
this  monopolising  subject,  and  it  is  the  flaming 
synopsis  of  their  thrilling  contents  that,  with  all 
the  blandishments  of  party-colored  inks,  and 
outre  type,  arrest  the  passer-by  at  convenient 
corners.  Then,  again,  pamphlets  without  num- 
ber are  groaning  through  the  press  upon  the  sub- 


Ject  of  the  potatoe-diaease,  with  remedies  for  the 
same,  and  philanthropic  wuggeslions  as  to  means 
to  be  employed  in  averting  the  horrors  of  the  an- 
ticipated famine.  Endless  disquisitions  upon  the 
propriety  of  opening  the  ports  of  Great  Britain 
for  the  admission  of  foreign  grain,  that  they  may 
have  something  else  to  grind  besides  the  faces  of 
the  poor,  are  also  finding  their  way  into  print; 
and  each  and  all  of  these  seek  every  possible 
miode  of  bringing  their  features  most  conspicu- 
ously and  most  attractively  before  the  eye-popu- 
lar. 

In  addition  to  all  this,  the  steamer  has  just  ar- 
rived, and  "War  with  America!"  stares  one  in 
the  face  from  the  newspaper-oiiice  fronts,  in  a 
form  of  alarming  typical  latitude  and  longitude. 
Rumors  are  abroad  that  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
is  resolved  to  suuunarily  punish  Yankee  auda- 
city, and  that  His  Grace  actually  meditates  the 
blJtiing  out  of  tha  United  States  from  the  physi- 
cal map  of  the  world,  without  so  much  as  pur- 
posing the  usual  courtesy,  of  leaving  behind  the 
most  insignificant  grease-spot,  as  a  warning  to 
future  oilenders!    In  the  meantime,  what  would 
become  of  Apsley-House,  during  the  Duke's  ab- 
sence on  this  exterminalmg  errand?    This  is  a 
grave  question.    Naughty  juveniles,  without  the 
fear  of  the  police,  or  of  "Napoleon's  conqueror" 
before  their  optics,  have  already  taken  'pains'  to 
render  iron  window-shutters  necessary  to  His 
Grace's  mansion — shutters  which  are  never,  un- 
der any  circumstances  permitted  to  remain  open 
— and  if  these  things  be  ventured  upon  under  his 
very  nose,  what  will  not  be  attempted  in  the  ab- 
sence of  that  remarkable  organ? 

It  strikes  us,  at  this  present  writing,  that  Great 
Britain  will  have  quite  as  much  as  she  can  at- 
tend to  in  Ireland  for  some  time  to  come.  "Bread 
or  blood"  is  a  cry  that  shook  France  to  its  cen- 
tre, and  was  the  fruitful  mother  of  a  gigantic 
revolution.  Starvation  and  oppression  may  do 
much,  in  the  sister  island,  to  awaken  a  sense  of 
former  freedom;  lor 

"Who,  with  heart  and  eyes. 
Could  walk  where  Lilicrty  liaji  been,  nor  see 
The  ibining  foot-rrints  of  her  Deit>?" 
And  as  to  quieting  the  complaints  of  hunger  with 
red  coats  instead  of  corn,  the  idea  is  a  allacy. 
The  mmrmurings  of  a  discontented  people,  as  we 
had  read  somewhere,  may  be  silenced,  perhaps, 
by  thrusting  bayonets  into  their  bodies,  but  it 
would  he  better  loetfect  the  same  end  by  putting 
spoons  into  their  mouths :  starving  people  have 
long  enough  been  conquered  by  killing  them ; 
why  not  stifle  their  fury  with  food  ?  or  if  they 
must  be  killed,  try  killing  them  with  kindness 
instead  of  cannon,  by  way  of  Christian  variety. 
After  the  Saxon  has  done  "justice  to  Ireland," 
and  taught  that  noble  but  persecuted  nation  to  put 
up  with  'half-a-crown'*  when  they  are  entitled 
to  a  'sovereign, 't  it  will  be  time  enough  to  look 

*  "Hair-a-prowD"  is  twoshilliD^  and  sixpcnrc,  about 
sixty-two  cent*, 
t  A  "soTcreign"  is  twenty  sbillinga,  about  five  dollars. 


LETTERS.  25 

towards  the  great  West,  with  a  dream  of  ven- 
geance. 

But,  n  truce  to  politics.  To  return  to  the  streets 
of  London  :  mendicity  is  not  half  so  apparent  or 
so  oflensive,  as  we  had  been  taught  to  expect  it. 
It  is  obvious  that  beggary  is  abundant.  The  at- 
mosphere of  some  localities,  (and  we  freiiuently 
wander  among  the  obscure  haunts  of  poverty — 
there  is  so  much  to  be  learned  from  the  rough  les- 
Bon-bookof  toil  and  want!)  is  redolent  of  a  life  of 
charity;  but  the  Argus-eyes  ofthe  law  restrain  and 
limit  now,  all  that  jfrofessional exhibition  of  dis- 
ease and  destitution  which  used  toaflbrd  so  much 
profit  in  its  pursuit,  and  romance  in  its  description. 
The  police  appear  to  be  ubiquitous,  and  ever  on 
the  alert  to  cut  off  such  appeals  to  the  compas- 
sionate, whether  feigned  or  involuntary.  The 
eye  of  distress  must  needs  grow  eloquent ;  for  its 
slightest  murmur  vibrates  npon  the  ear  of  authori- 
ty, and  conjures  the  instant  presence  of  a  suit  of 
blue  cloth,  trimmed  with  white,  at  whose  voiee 
potential,  the  suppliant  "evanishes,"  like  a  ghost 
at  the  "crowing  o'  the  cock."  The  vigilancu  of 
the  police  is,  in  trulh,  remarkable.  As  late  as 
George  II.,  banditti  used  to  parade  with  impuni- 
ty the  streets  of  this  metropolis,  and  were  only 
prevented,  once,  froin  robbing  the  Queen,  in  her 
carriage,  in  the  public  streets,  by  the  time  con- 


sumed in  plundering  the  retinue  of  a  nobleman. 
What  a  change!    How  farcical  would  such  an 
adventure  prove  now-a-days !     Yet  a  single  cen- 
tury has  done  all  this.    One  hundred  and  seventy 
thousand  houses  now  stand  where  Llyn-din,  or 
"the  town  on  the  lake,"  once  raised  its  ghastly 
head    from    amid  the    marshes  that  gave   it    a 
name  and  an  exi.stence;  and  two  millions  of  hu- 
man beings  are  now  engaged,  each  in  his  own 
way,  in  "the  pursuit  of  happiness"  where,  erst,  a 
few  hardy  adventurers  with  dilficulty  obtained  by 
tralfie  a  scant  subsistence  !     What  a  contempla- 
tion for  thegrowiiiggreatness  of  America  !  What 
centuries,  in  the  tardy  progress  of  unhaslened 
time,  have  ellected  here,  a  few  years  cannot  but 
accomplish  in  a  nation  proverbially  ambitious  and 
enterprising,  guided  by  a  spirit  of  rational  inde- 
pendence, impelled  and  aided  onward  by  iho  won- 
drous energies  of  modern  science  and  invention. 
Yes!  "westward  the  march  of  empire  takes  its 
way,"  and  America,  we  feel,  is  destined  to  be 
the  glory  and  admiration  of  the  world,   when 
Great  Britain  shall  only  be  read  of,  as  we  read  of 
the  might  and  magnificence  of  ancient  Greece 
and  llome,  and  when  the  curious  traveller  may, 
in  memory  of  the  past,  penetrate  ihe  va.<!t  soli- 
tude and  "take  his  stand  on  a  broken  arch  of 
London  bridge  to  sketch  the  ruins  of  St.  Paul's." 
We  admit  that  all  this  has  but  lillle  to  do  with 
our  subject  in  hand  ;  but,  in  a  foreign  land,  with 
strange  faces  around  one,  and  a  thousand  liille 
incidents  daily  occurring  to  make  one  feel  one's 
heart-alicnship  in  the  siriiggling  crowd,  ihc  bare 
thought  of  home  is  eleclric,  and  kindles  in  one's 
soul  an  enthusiasm  as  impetuous  as  it  is  irre^ioti- 


26 


ble.  We  met  a  well-known  American,  yester- 
day, however,  who  liad  contrived  not  only  to 
forget  his  native  land,  and  to  out-Herod  Herod  in 
assuming  the  habits,  contour  and  opinions  of  the 
most  frivolous  of  Europeans,  but  had  tlie  elfron- 
tery  to  disparage  the  soil  that  grave  him  birlh,  and 
the  people  and  liie  institulions  tliat  had  raised 
him  above  the  indistinjuished  crowd  I  We  felt 
too  much  contempt  to  be  ansrry,  and  yet  we  were 
painfully  annoyt-d.  It  is  true  he  looked  not  like 
our  countryman,  and  that  was  gome  comfort  to 
both  of  us  —  for  he  evidently  sought  to  be 
esteemed  a  foreigner.  He  hud  conned  well  the 
lesson  of  Rosalind:  "lookyoul  lisp  and  wear 
strange  suits ;  disable  nil  the  benefits  of  your 
own  fountry;  be  out  of  love  with  your  nativity, 
and  almost  chide  God  for  making  you  that  coun- 
tenance you  ware,  or  I  will  scarce  think  you  have 
»wam  in  a  gondola."  Confound  the  fellow  I  we  I 
pitied  him  even  while  we  despised  his  folly.  ] 
Still  his  conduct  may  be  useful.  If  there  be  a  | 
spark  of  s-imilar  ingratitude  lurking  in  the  bosom  | 
of  any  other  American  with  whom  we  may  con»e 
in  contact,  we  are  very  sure  his  excessiv^e  affec- 
tation will  extinguish  it,  and  superinduce  reflec-  i 
tions  calculated  to  give  birlh  to  nobler,  because  i 
more  natural  and  more  generous  impulses. 

We  are  afraid  this  has  been  a  very  dull  letter,  j 
I'jut  ill-heallh  must  be  our  apology.  A  violent  j 
lo'd  and  a  provoking  cough  are,  at  best,  not  very  j 
mirthful  companions,  and  ihe  music  of  the  latter  j 
is  not  exactly  like  that,  in  hearing  which,  in  the  i 
language  of  Esdras,  "u  man  reniemberelh  neither 
sorrow  uor  debt."  Du  Solle. 

NO.  X. 

RpUPiit-Qiiadrnnt  and  Circus  — The  Stroets  of 
tioiidou— I'olici^  GovpriiiiiPut— A  Fire  and  tlie 
En^^iui'S— Tlie  SIiops  of  tiondou — Livinj;  of  the 
Masses  — Tlie  Tliami^s— I'a.<isa2e  in  a  Ferry 
SteaiiK-r— Railway  Mania— Vie  won  the  River 
—The  Tower- Tile  Tlianies  Tuunt'l. 

London,  Nov.  2Sih,  IS'IS. 
Strolling  about  the  streets,  (in  the  rain,  of 
course,)  we  made  to-day  a  multitude  of  observa- 
tions to  ourself,  which  we  may  as  well  transfer  to 
our  readers — presuming  them  sulFiciently  good- 
iiHlured  to  put  up  with  occiisional  trilles,  and  in- 
dulgent enough  to  permit  us  to  deliver  ourself  in 
our  own  desultory  way. 

We  dare  say  that  much  that  v/e  shall  say  will 
be  stale  to  those  who  have  either  read  carefully, 
<.)r  travelled  with  both  eyes  open  i'  the  midst  of 
the  habits  and  customs  of  this  longitude,  but  our 
joilingsdown  will  not  be  "caviare  to  the  million," 
perh-jps,  and  to  that  respectably  arithmetical  pro- 
portion of  the  human  family  at  home  we  espe- 
cially address  ourself.  At  any  rate,  as  Shaks- 
peare  didn't  remark, 

•' wlio  wouli  licartlio  impatient  Hiir.it  ot  fame, 

'I'iio  iiiilc  nl  coiisrioiis  ineril,  and  'bovo  all 
Tlic  ipdious  ini|iortiin'tv  nt  triemis, 
AViipii  iio  t«im."!'  IfiDv''!  Ids  quietus  make, 
Willi  a  liare  ink-borii .'" 

f-fo  imaguic  us  siiuiiteriiig  along  Regent  street,  in 


DU  SOLLE'S 

the  morning,  with  throat  mullled  up  a  la  Anglais 
in  a  Cashmere  Comforter,  and  gazing  at  the  mag- 
nificent Btores  in  the  magnificent  "Quadrant." 
through  the  dim-medium  of  a  gamboge,  or  rather 
a  sepia  atmosphere,  giving  to  every  object  at  the 
distance  of  twenty-four  inches  from  the  extremity 
of  one's  facial  handle,  the  dim  vagueness  of  body 
and  outline  which  virtuosi  extacy  so  much  in  the 
pictures  of  Claude  Lorraine.  Add  to  this,  the 
wind  N.  E.  and  the  weather  precisely  the  kind 
whereof  the  memory  of  that  usually  well-inform- 
ed individual,  the  'oldest  inhabitant,'  in  tiiis  vi- 
cinity, runneth  not  to  the  contrary,  and  you  have 
a  glorious  idea  of  our  melancholy  condition 


It  is  rather  an  interesting  lounge  finder  the  pil- 
lars or  collonade  of  the  Regent  Quadrant.  One 
can  lancy  one'self,  almost,  in  fairy-land,  amid  the 
air-wrought  palaces  of  those  clever  artificers,  the 
shops  are  so  gay,  and  everything  around  wearing 
the  garb  of  luxury,  elegance,  and  costlines.s. 
Only  one  thing  mars  the  exquisite  notion — the 
women  are  anything  but  sylphic  !  Many  of  them 
are  sublime  enough,  (particularly  the  old  ones,)  if, 
as  Burke  argues,  size  is  the  chief  element  of 
sublimity,  and  the  great  majority,  (protect  us 
Heaven!  for  daring  to  give  utterance  to  the  he- 
resy,) have  ample  reason  to  be  grateful  that  mere 
beauty  is  but  cuticle-deep,  and  that  its  absence 
robs  no  woman  of  her  gentler  and  more  excellent 
qualities. 

We  find  no  difficulty  in  ferreting  out  our  way 
amid  the  nine  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty- 
two,  (nothing  like  being  exact !)  thoroughfares  of 
London— at  least  no  more  than  we  have  experi- 
enced amid  the  labyriuthian  intricacies  of  Boston, 
of  which  city,  by  the  way,  we  are  constantly  re- 
minded by  a  thousand  little  things  here:    Boston 
is,   unquestionably,   the    most   English    city  in 
America.    Sometimes  a  stranger  will  necessarily  ' 
get  confused.   Our  organ  of  locality  got  singularlj' 
in  a  "fix"  the  other  day,  while  we  were  peeping 
at  a  curious  likeness  of  Dr.  Franklin,  under  the 
showy  portico  of  the  Italian  Opera  House  in  the 
Haymarket.    Our  eyes  maintained  that  we  were 
in  the  region  of  the  Quadrant:  reflection  enter- 
tained a  contrary  opinion,  and  it  was  some  mi- 
nutes before  observation  could  reconcile  the  con- 
flicting opinions  of  the  belligerents.     But  this  was 
owing  entirely  to  the  English  artist's  idea  of  Dr. 
Franklin.    What  right  had  he  to  draught  the  old 
philosopher  in  what  he  no  doubt  intended  to  be  a 
classic  tunic,  but  which  presented  to  our  iminiiia- 
led  vision  so  faitliful  a  portrait  of  his  night-iihirt? 
Quoth  decency,  'it  isn't  respectable;'  quoth  taste, 

'the  varlet  be hanged  for  his  ignorance !  No 

man  looks  the  more  like  a  poet,  Hn  economist  or 
a  diplomatist,  (and  it  is  hard  to  say  in  which  cha- 
racter it  w-as  designed  to  picture  the  Doctor,)  for 
being  painted  in  short  white  linen  and  a  red  night, 
cap.'  And  taste  was  in  the  ripht ;  but  it  was  lis- 
tening to  the  disputants  that  lost  us,  for  the  nonce 
our  whereabouts 


LETTERS. 


27 


The  junotion  of  Regent  street  and  Piccadilly 
produces  tlio  "Uegenl's  Circus."  Each  of  the 
lour  cornur:*  of  the  streets,  instead  of  remaiiiinu; 
angular,  is  here  renderetl  coiicavoiis,  iuid  the  re- 
result  is  a  circular  appearance,  that  gives,  lo  the 
common  ear,  an  equestrian-ic  title  lo  llie  place. 
It  i.s  lite  slopping-plac-e  and  'booking  oilice'  of 
something  le«s  than  a  inillion  of  omnihusses,  and 
its  hurry  and  bustle,  in  consequence,  may  be  con- 
jectured Certain  steam-packet  and  railway  olK- 
ces  are  also  here,  and  contribute  not  a  little  to 
inereauc  the  natural  acciimiiUuion  of  humanily  at 
this  point,  which,  nniwilhstanding  the  dirt,  that  a 
street-sweeping  niacliiue,  (dragged  by  one  horse, 
operating,  on  a  small  scale,  something  after  the 
fashion  of  the  New  York  dock-cleansing  ma- 
chines, and  sweeping  a  surlace  of  about  lliree 
t'cet  in  width  at  a  time.)  is  so  constantly  required 
to  remove,  and  the  vehicles  without  number  ob- 
structing the  way,  and  rendering  a  peripatetic 
passage  from  corner  to  corner  a  very  hazardous 
enlerprize,  is  really  immense. 

We  notice  that  there  are  always  some  of  the 
police  stationed  hei-e.  Talking  of  police  reininds 
IIS  that  liondon,  in  some  mimicipal  points,  resem- 
bles Philadelphia.  In  both,  the  Ci.;;-, proper,  is 
very  limited  in  extent,  the  adjacent  di;itric!s  com- 
prising morespace,  more  population,  r.iorfe*;very- 
thing,  and  although  distinct  in  some  measure,  in 
their  local  government,  still  uniting,  to  form,  in 
combination,  the  metropolis.  London,  in  all  its 
divisions,  however,  is  consolidated,  as  regard.? 
the  ;reneral  interests  and  the  general  operations 
of  the  police.  Philadelphia  is  not.  but  should  be, 
and  will  never  experience  all  the  advantages  of 
wholesome  laws  until  such  a  consummation  be 
•witnessed  There  is  one  grand  dilference  be- 
iween  the  two  cities,  though,  in  question — Lon- 
don is  fully  twelve  miles  wide  from  East  to 
West:  every  corn  upon  our  feet  painful  protests 
that  this  is  a  modest  admeasurement,  and  a  pair 
of  Benckerl's  boots,  (better  by  lar  than  any  we 
can  find  in  this  country,)  opens  its  soul  to  us  pa- 
thetically, and  yawns  a  corroboration  of  the  fact. 
'Ti8,  indeed,  a  giant  city,  and  corpulent  as  well 
as  longitudinal. 

We  saw  a  fire  to-day.  It  was  a  small  atlair, 
but  it  furnished  us  with  what  we  had  l)een  labo- 
riously longing  for,  viz:  a  glance  at  an  English 
fire-engme.  They  are  small,  neat,  ompact  ma- 
chines, and  are  drawn  by  two  or  more  horses,  as 
the  distance  may  require,  to  the  scene  of  de- 
struction. There  is  no  noise,  no  turbulence,  no 
disturbance.  Everything  is  done  under  t!ie  eyo 
and  by  the  orders  of  coinmi.ssioued  and  active 
agents,  and  pretty  ellectually  done,  we  confess, 
although  not  quite  so  energetically  as  we  do  such 
things  at  home.  The  crowd  tha'  gathers  around 
is  kept  at  a  suitab'e  distance  by  the  police,  and  if 
any  unauthorised  individual,  prompted  by  a  feel- 
ing of  cupidity  or  generosity,  makes  himself 
more  useful  than  ornamenlal  on  the  premises,  an 


I  opportunity  is  immediately  afforded  h'm  of  gel- 
ting  rid  of  his  superfluous  sympathy,  l)y  an  in- 
volunlnry  course  of  study  on  the  ethics  of  nocial 
government  behind  the  jrraled  doors  of  one  of 
Her  Majesty's  public  buildmgs — sign  of  the  Cross- 
Keys,  it  used  to  be  in  the  olden  lime — in  New- 
gate street,  or  Blackfriars. 

Turning  around  Charing  Cross,  (the  name  of  a 
wide  ihoroiighl'are,  wheie  formerly  stood  the 
village  of  Charing,  in  which  Edward  L  erect- 
ed a  golden  cross  in  memory  of  his  (^ueen  PJIea- 
nor,)  we  enter  the  busy  street  called  The  Strand. 
Stores  of  all  descriptions,  many  of  them  very 
beautiful  and  imposing,  here  altract  the  eye. 
Many  of  them  have,  over  the  door,  a  large  plas- 
ter-cast of  fho  national  coat  of  arms,  with  "IJy 
Appointment"  in  significant  letters  beneath  the 
same — an  indication  that  the  establishments  so 
adorned  are  distinctly  patronised,  (perhaps  ex- 
clusively,) by  the  Roy.d  Household.  The  butcher- 
shops,  (handsome  places  some  of  them,)  are  to  l)e 
seen  here,  as  elsewhere,  with  open  windows,  in 
vi'hich  the  meats  sire  displayed  upon  hooks  to 
tempt  'he  eye  of  the  epicure,  and  the  fingers  of 
the  penniless.  "Purveyor  to  Her  Majesiv,"  em- 
bellishes the  I'ront  of  more  than  one,  and  all  have 
a  remarkably  clean  and  tidy  appearance. 

Green-grocmr  shops  are  also  to  be  seen  here — 
stores  at  which  only  vegetables  are  retailed  lo 
the  million.  We  must  not  forget,  in  turn,  the 
fishmongers.  In  their  stores  may  be  obtained 
shell  and  other  fish.  Oysters,  as  we  have  men- 
tioned are  kept  in  water,  are  very  small,  and 
W(  uld  not  be  cat'^n  by  any  one  who  has  epicii- 
r  aiiized  on  that  luxury  anion;?  Ihe  delicious  pro- 
ducts of  the  Chesapeake.  We  ale  an  English 
one  of  the  belter  character,  at  a  friend's  yester- 
day. It  was  decidedly  '  queer."  How  Darte- 
neuf,  in  the  "Dialogues  of  the  Dead,"  can  be 
made  to  call  them  "the  best  in  Ihe  whole  world," 
passes  onr  comprehension,  excepting  upon  the 
idea  that  spirits  being  intangible  entertain  no  fear 
of  blistering  their  tongues  with  a  fib,  however 
immeasurable.  We  can  only  forgive  him  when 
he  tantalizes  Apicius  with  a  luscious  dc-cription 
of  American  turtle,  until  the  latter  exclaims  "I 
cannot  indeed  but  lament  ray  fate  that  America 
was  not  formed  before  I  was  borni"  and  adds, 
"vvould  it  be  impossible,  do  you  think,  to  obtain 
leave  from  Pluto  of  going  back  for  one  day,  just 
to  taste  of  that  food?  I  would  promise  to  kill 
rny>elf  Ijy  the  qiiaulity  I  would  eat  before  next 
morning."  Apicius  committed  suicide,  if  our 
memory  betray  us  not,  because  he  had  only  be- 
tween three  and  lour  hundred  thou>aiid  dollars  of 
his  original  wealth  Icl'i,  and  was  afraid  such  a 
paltry  sum  Avould  not  inaintain  the  delicacies 
ho  had  been  accusloiucd  to  of  the  lablel 

Let  us  Ket  back  to  ihe  fishmongers  of  Loudon. 
Their  windows  are  full  of  lobsters,  flounders, 
fresh  God,  S(jle<,  h(;rrings.  shrimps,  periwinkles. 


28 

&c.  Herrings— fresh  ones— are  very  cheap  and 
very  plentiful,  and  are  the  common  food  ol  the 
poor,  at  this  season.  They  are  remarkably  good 
eating  too.  Shrimps  resemble  incipient  lobsters, 
and  are,  to  our  taste,  highly  palatable.  Peri- 
vifinkles,  as  we  have  el-sewhere  said,  might  easily 
be  mistaken  for  juveni'e  snails,  and  are  sold  and 
eaten  m  this  country  as  pea-nuts  are  in  America, 
performing  pretty  much  the  same  office  in  popular 
public  places.  As  to  their  flavor,  we  cannot 
speak,  our  prejudice  not  having  yet  permitted 
us  to  indulge  in  the  experiment.  A  friend  as- 
sures us  that  they  are  not  worth  the  malediction 
of  a  tin-dealer,  but 

The  best  of  friend.s  fall  out,  and  so 
His  teeth  had  done  some  years  ago— 

of  course,  therefore,  his  judgment  may  be  con- 
sidered questionable.  Fish  heing  on  thoj  tapis, 
we  may  mention  here  that  Charing  Cross,  ( late 
Hunserford,)  market,  is  a  great  depot  of  this 
'scaly'  species  of  victual-manufacture.  Billings- 
gale  where,  according  to  Dr.  Johnson,  they  "sell 
the  best  fish  and  speak  the  plainest  English,"  has 
lost  much  of  its  celebrity,  but  is  still  an  interest- 
ing subject  of  contemplation  to  those  who  are 
disposed  to  "divide  their  time  between  an  anxious 
conscience  and  a  nauseated  stomach."  We  are 
not  of  that  category. 

There  are  no  oyster-cellars  in  this  city,  and 
what  is  siill  more  strange,  (we  admit  the  want  of 
any  decent  ideal  association  between  cellars  and 
sausages,)  there  are  very  few  d"gs.  To  an 
American  this  is  a  novelty.  We  only  saw  two 
dogs  in  the  streets  to-day  duringa  ramble  of  seven 
hours,  and  both  of  them  were  of  the  greyhound 
species,  and  following  in  the  footsteps  of  their  res- 
pective pioprietors.  As  to  the  cellars,  they  are 
uncalled  for.  Eeating  hou,ses  and  restaurats  are 
abundant,  of  all  classes.  They  seem  to  be  well 
patronized  too.  The  Club-houses  are  the  fre- 
quent places  of  resort  for  eating,  drinking  and 
smoking  on  the  part  of  the  wealthier  people,  but 
the  great  mass  eat  either  at  home,  or  where  the 
viands  and  the  cost  of  them  best  accord  with 
their  teelings  and  circumstances.  And  it  is  by 
no  means  ditlicult  to  live  as  well  here  as  in 
America,  (it  is  impossible  to  live  better,  in  our 
opinion,  anywhere,)  though  at,  on  an  average, 
three  times  the  cost.  Luxuries  of  all  kinds  are 
exceedingly  expensive;  and  even  the  ordinary 
necessaries  of  life  are  rendered  very  high  by  the 
policy  of  universal  taxation.  Just  now  the  price 
of  bread  is  twenty  cents  per  loaf;  of  beef  eighteen 
cents  and  mutton  sixteen  cents  per  pound  ;  of  po- 
tatoes eighty  cents,  per  bushel.  Delicacies  of  the 
hiinihler  kind,  and  such  are  eaten  by  the  multi- 
tude at  home,  present  a  still  sorrier  aspect. 
Fowls,  (and.  by  the  way,  the  poulterers'-shops 
are  seen  here  almost  as  frequently  as  the  butchers' 
ditto,)  being,  at  present,  S2  50  a  pair,  geese  §.3  00, 
and  turkics  ST)  00  each,  if  of  excellent  quality. 
On  the  whole,   then,  this  is  a  capitid   place  of 


DU  SOLLE  S 

abode  for  the  millionaire,  but  it  affords  an  ex- 
tremely small  chance  for  an  enjoyment  of  the 
good  things  of  this  life,  to  those  whose  daily  toil 
is  all  that  can  be  depended  upon  for  that  purpose. 
It  is  possible  that  the  curious  genius,  who  insisted 
upon  his  ability  to  discover  the  bent  of  a  man's 
talents,  by  the  kind  of  food  he  usually  selected 
for  his  dinner,  might  find  a  pretty  solid  substra- 
tum in  the  United  Stales,  where  the  product  of 
labor  is  usually  sufficient  to  permit  any  industri- 
ous operative  to  follow  his  inclinations  ;  but,  the 
attempt  would  be  preposterous  here,  where  the 
great  majority  eat  what  they  can  get,  rather  than 
what  they  want,  and  make  a  Barmacide'  feast 
only  of  a  multitude  of  palatable  and  piquant 
dishes  common  enough  in  America. 


We  turned  from  the  Strand  down  St.  George 
street,  towards  the  river  and  the  thought  struck 
us  that  we  would  visit  the  celebrated  Tunnel, 
and  do  so  by  water.  Once  upon  the  quay,  (the 
wharf,)  we  beheld,  instead  of  a  steamboat-wharf, 
a  .bridge  of  flat-bottomed  boats,  extending  out 
into  the  stream,  at  nearly  the  farther  extremity  of 
which  a  temporary  frame  building  was  erected. 
To  this  building  we  carefully  made  our  way,  and 
paying  four  pence,  waited  for  the  steamer  intend- 
ed to  convfry  us  to  the  Tunnel.  The  Thames 
wore  rather  a  dismal  look  in  the  rain,  but  so 
would  any  reasonable  river  that  had  the  bosom 
to  reflect  back  the  morose  countenance  of  Na- 
ture, with  one  of  her  ill-natured  washing-day 
faces  on.  So  we  stood  and  gazed  around  us, 
bethinking  us  of  what  we  had  been  told  by  those 
conversant  with  local  affairs.  The  Thames  is, 
here,  about  one-third  of  a  mile  wide,  but  only 
navigable  for  small  craft,  were  even  the  splen- 
did stone  bridges  removed.  It  is  contemplated 
by  the  government  to  erect  an  embankment  fifty 
feet  wide,  for  a  carriage  road  and  an  atmosphe- 
riel-railway  up  to  the  new  Parliament  Houses, 
on  the  city  side  of  the  river,  and  about  200  feet 
outside  of  the  present  quay.  This  will  make  ad- 
ditional and  noble  docks  below,  will  enable  ship's 
cargoes  to  be  brought  up  from  sea  without  delay, 
and  make  a  charming  addition  to  the  view  of 
London  from  the  Thames.  It  will  require  a  fear- 
ful outlay,  however,  of  public  monies  ! 

The  fact  is,  even  the  public  authorities  appear, 
in  some  measure,  to  have  caught  the  prevailing 
epidemic — the  railway  fever.  If  one-half  the 
plans  in  agitation  be  carried  out,  London  in  a 
few  years  will  be  little  else  than  a  huge  web  of 
iron.  Railway  agent*  are  surveying  in  all  di- 
rections as  if  "monarchs  of  all"  they  put  their 
instruments  on,  and  even  when  driven  olf  pri- 
vate grounds,  continue,  on  'public  grounds,'  to 
persevere  in  their  efforts,  by  jumping  the  walls 
at  night,  and  subsidising  the  "demnition  bow- 
wows," to  remain  inactiveand  silent  duringtheir 
operations.  Two  of  the  bridges  over  the  Thames 
have  been  conditionally  purchased  by  different 
railway  compauies  at  stupendous  prices,  and 


LETTERS 

another  company  has  just  completed  a  ooatract  for 
the  purchase  of  a  right  of  way  through  one  of  the 
avenues  of  the  Tunnel !  Where  the  deuce 
the  mania  will  stop,  Heaven  only,  (and  the 
projectors  of  the  bubble,  perhaps,)  can  tell. 
The  press  is  ridiculing  the  speculation  wilh  some 
acuieness  and  more  wit,  and  we  have  all  kinds  of 
humorous  cuts  at  the  'deep  cuts,'  and  a  profusion 
of  lines  of  raillery  on  the  various  railway-lines, 
that  have  at  present  so  very  'imposing'  an  exis- 
tence upon  Bristol-board  and  foolscap.  "Punch," 
as  our  readers  may  perceive,  is,  (as  they  say 
here,)  "precious  sewci  e"  on  the  subject ;  and  we 
have  some  quires  of  note-paper  before  us,  every 
sheet  of  which  has,  at  its  head,  an  engraved 
comical  illustration  of  some  one  of  the  many  ab- 
surd phases  of  this  public  delirium. 


The  boat  at  length  came  alongside  of  our  post 
of  tribulation,  and  along  with  other  passengers 
who  had  been  in  waiting,  we  went  on  board.  It 
was  a  ferry  steamer,  (although  nothing  like  our 
ferry-boats,  but  rather  a  condensed  copy  of  the 
English  ocean-steamers,)  as  black  and  as  ugly  as 
painters  delight  to  represent  the  antique  gentle- 
man who  "goeth  about  like  a  roaring  lion,"  but 
nevertheless  a  very  smart  little  craft,  as  we  sub- 
sequently discovered.  She  was  one  of  a  num- 
ber of  similar  boats  that  run  up  and  down  the 
Thames,  landing  and  receiving  passengers  at, 
perhaps,  a  dozen  points  of  this  extensive  city — a 
sort  of  water-omnibus,  at  a  reduced  fare,  and  on 
an  enlarged  scale. 

Notwithstanding  the  inclement  weather,  and 
the  fact  that  the  boat  contained  no  covered  refuge 
from  the  storm,  she  was  well  filled  with  travel- 
lers of  both  sexes  and  several  sizes.  Amongst 
them  were  several  gentlemen  in  military  uni- 
form. The  scene  on  ihe  river  was  interesting. 
As  we  passed  under  the  bridges  and  saw  how 
superb  and  solid  were  the  massive  structures, 
we  were  especially  pleased.  And  then  the 
crowd  of  umbrellas  passing  over  London  bridge! 
seen  just  over  the  stoue  parapet,  they  looked  like 
an  army  of  huge  cockroaches  wending  their  way 
to  ;ome  deposit  of  broken  victuals! 

The  elegant  and  numerous  public  buildings  on 
the  river  bank  shewed  to  very  great  advantage. 
The  Temple-garden — a  miniature  New  York 
"Battery,"  attached  to  that  congregated  mass  of 
legal  erudition  yclept  the  Temple — looked  very 
pretty.  The  famous  Tower  of  London  lifted  its 
hoarv  arms  as  we  passed,  and  challenged  our  at- 
tention. What  a  change  has  come  over  the 
spirit  of  its  old  dream  within  a  century!  One  can 
scarcely  conceive  tliat  that  demure  looking  pair 
of  white  towers,  which  a  few  shells  in  this  age 
of  scientific  destruction  would  astonish  into  no- 
thingness, can  be  the  place,  the  very  name  of 
which  was  once  so  associated  with  terror  even 
to  royalty,  and  over  whose  portals  the  Italian 
poet  might  quite  as  appropriately  have  inscribed 
his  celebrated  lines,  "Leave  every  hope,"  &c.. 


89 

as  upon  the  entrance  to  his  gulph  of  despair  it- 
self. This  fortress,  built  to  intimidate  London 
itself,  is  now  a  harmless  old  mo-ister  in  its 
d.itage,  and  is  used  for  various  public  purposes 
which  we  shall  allude  to  anon,  when  we  picture 
our  visit  to  its  "in'ards." 


For  what  happened  on  our  further  voyage 
down  "old  Father  Thames,"  a  glimpse  at  tho 
Tunnel,  &c.  &c.,  the  reader  will  be  courteous 
enough  to  apply  to  our  epistle  prochaine.  "Time'* 
up,"  as  they  say  in  ',the  ring,"  the  mid-night  bell 
is  tolling,  our  paper  is  out,  and  our  candle  nearly 
so,  even  if  the  fair  peruser,  vexed  at  being  left 
at  such  a  spot,  complain  as  sorrowfully  as  the 
Prophet  did,  when  the  voice  cried  out  to  him, 
"What  dost  thou  here,  Elijah?"  we  must  still  be 
ungallant  enough  to  postpone  curiosity  for  "yet 
a  little  moment."  Du  Soluk. 

NO  XI. 

The  Tower  of  London  — the  Docks— filtering 
vessel— the  Thames  Tunnel- descent  into  it — 
its  shops— its  iuhabitauts— Gravel-lane- a  Gin 
Palace— its  style  and  its  customers — £nglisli 
drinking— an  accident,  &c« 

London,  Nov.  29th,  1815. 
We  left  the  reader,  in  our  last,  at  the  Tower  of 
London,  where  Anne  Boleyn  and  sundry  other 
conspicuous  personages  left  their  heads,  and  the 
Duke  of  Clarence  his  tout  ensemble  [a  a  butt  of 
his  favorite  Malmsley.  We  were  on  board  a 
steamer,  however,  and  could  afford  to  snap  our 
finger  at  such  apprehensions.    So  let  us  on. 

Just  below,  we  encountered  a  Filtering  Vessel, 
lying  in  the  stream.  This  vessel  is  employed  to 
filter  water  for  ships'  uses.  The  water,  which  is 
pumped  from  the  Thames,  might,  in  its  original 
state,  easily  be  mistaken  for  Cafe  an  lait,  but 
being  filtered  on  board  this  vessel,  it  becomes 
sweet  and  clean,  and  is  then  conveyed,  in  a  lesser 
boat,  to  ships  on  the  eve  of  departure,  and  forced 
up  through  a  hose  into  suitable  casks  for  safe- 
keeping. 

The  river  here  began  to  wear  an  aspect  of 
much  business.  The  quays  were  crowded  with 
ships  and  steamers,  leaving  but  a  very  narrow 
passage  in  the  channel-way.  We  had  from  here 
a  fine  view  of  the  entrances  to  the  great  London 
Docks  and  St.  Katharine  Docks,  which  are  canals 
of  vast  size,  superior  even  to  those  of  Liverpool, 
into  which  the  tide  is  locked  by  gates  at  high 
water,  thus  affording  adequate  and  convenient 
berths  for  a  large  number  of  vessels.  There  are 
also,  the  East  and  the  West  India  Docks.  Alto- 
gether, perhaps  two  thousand  ships  may  be  hand- 
somely accommodated  at  once  in  these  grand 
reservoirs. 

At  length  we  reached  and  were  landed  near 
the  Thames  Tunnel.  At  first  we  felt  disappoint- 
ed. We  labored  under  an  impression  that  the 
Tunnel  commenced  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  up 


30  DU  SOLLE'S 

from  the  river  on  each  side,  and  gradually  do-     |    of  every  sod 


scended,  like  a  loose  rope,  under  iln  dirty  bed. 
It  was  all  a  miulake.  Two  round  brick  buildings, 
one  on  the  Wapping  and  one  on  the  Rotherhithe 
side  of  the  river,  designate  the  entrance?,  and 
they  stand  within  a  few  yards  of  the  stream. 
Being  on  the  Wapping  side,  we  entered,  paid 
our  penny  for  admission,  (cheaper  than  some 
kinds  of  dirt  here  !)  and  proceeded.  Two  spiral 
stairways,  (one  for  ascending,  the  other  for  de- 
scending,) convey  the  visitor  to  the  required 
depth.  Once  at  the  bottom,  the  Tunnel  lay  be- 
fore u.«,  its  two  twelve  hundied-feet-in  length, 
horse-shoe-shaped  avenues,  lit  up  by  projecting 
gas-lights,  resembling  streets  at  night,  in  beautiful 
perspective.  Like  streets  too,  the  Tunnel  con- 
tains its  shops,  and  its  displays  of  curiosities, 
chiedy  deriving  importance,  though,  f,om  the 
oddness  of  their  location  nndir  the  river.  A  bill 
thrust  into  our  palm  with  a  bow  of  complaisance 
informed  us  that  a  host  of  novelties  in  the  picto- 
rial way,  were  to  be  seen  in  an  adjacent  corner 
for  the  sum  of  two  pence.  To  see  the  "Bom- 
Urdment  of  Algiers,"  or  "Buonaparte  at  Water- 
loo"' on  oiled  paper,  with  probably  a  "penny- 
dip"  behind  them  as  a  substitute  for  a  "grand 
Metropolitan  illumination"  was  not  much,  but  to 
assume  a  fish-privilege  and  behold  them  "at  the 
bottom  of  the  Thames"  was  a  thing  not  to  be  got- 
ten over— and  we  only  wish  we  could  see  some 
other  disagreeable  things  there  that  we  wot  of; 
it  would  answer  as  well  as  at  the  Red  Sea  foun- 
dation, and  we  should  "exhibit  the  tin"  with  un- 
mitigated satisfaction. 

Walking  slowly  through  the  Tunnel,  we  could 
not  help  admiring  the  strength  imparted  to  it  by 
its  peculiar  shape.  In  one  or  two  places  the  wa- 
ter nevertheless  was  stealthily  oozing  through  in 
drops,  hesitating  ere  it  fell,  as  if  reconnoitering 
the  ground,  apprehensive  of  detection.  The 
shops  mentioned,  we  discovered  were  stalls, 
between  the  heavy  pillars  that  separate  the  two 
passage-ways.  Toys,  medals,  edibles  and  bibbi- 
bles  formed  the  staple  of  them  all,  (iliere  were 
only  about  a  dozen,)  and  they  were  attended 
principally  by  young  girls.  "Capital  view,  sir. 
of  the  Tunnel,  through  this  glass— charge  you 
nothing  for  looking,  sir— do  look!"  pressed  the 
first  one  we  encountered.  "Buy  a  medal  of  the 
Tunnel,  sir?  Only  think  sir,  mider  the  Temx'." 
shrieked  a  second.  "Glass  hornamenis,  sir,  for 
children  sir, — werry  nice  uns  sir- honlya  penny 
—and  vndcr  tJie  Terns'."'  insinuated  a  third.  The 
next  was  a  lean,  gaunt  Frenchman,  whom  a  pro- 
per respect  for  the  rhuematism  should  have  kept 
on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  at  least  until  the 
worms  had  imperatively  claimed  their  share  of 
his  mortal  drapery.  "£/j  bien,  monsieur,  avez 
vous  faim?  Is  you  angry,  sare?  I  have  de 
bonne  sanwiche,  ver  goot,  monsieur:  ainsi  du 
fromage  ct  bread.  Vonlez  vous  under  ze,  T<'»?«.'" 
he  politely  inquired  in  the  best  linglish  he  could 
command.    "Under  the  TemsP  was  the  burthen 


until  we  mode  car  way  to  the 
Rotherhithe  termination  ofthe  Tunnel,  which  was 
precisely  like  the  other,  only  that  instead  of  the 
picture  shew,  here  were  profile  likenesses  to  Ite 
obtained,  "under  the  Tenvs"  for  a  penny,  and  "I 
dreamt  that  I  dwelt  in  marble  halls"  from  a  harp, 
for  any  gratuity,  the  performer  being  a  filthy  ras- 
cal, such  as  we  imagined  those  l.ieings  must  be, 
whom  the  Brahmins,  in  their  humanity,  are  said 
to  hire  as  food  for  fleas. 

Returning,  we  soon  ascended  to  the  open  air, 
and  a  few  steps  placed  us  in  the  midst  of  that  end 
of  London  known  as  Wapping — and  a  wbapping 
dirty  end  it  appears  to  be.  There  is  some 
amusement  in  perambulating  streets  that  lead, 
you  don't  know  where,  and  induct  you  into 
scene*  of  mirth  or  misery,  you  don't  know  how. 
So  we  took  trravel-Lane  at  a  venture,  trusting 
that  it  would  ultimately  eject  us  into  some  tho- 
roughfare traversed  by  an  omnibus.  Nor  was 
Gravel-Lane  the  narrow  route  its  name  would 
indicate  to  American  ears.  It  was  certainly  W 
feet  wide,  and  we  came  near  measuring  its  depth 
once  or  twice,  at  the  crossings,  without  sny  in- 
tention to  attempt  it,  for  we  had  no  wish  to  dis- 
turb the  deposit  of  mud  that,  for  aught  we  could 
see  to  the  contrary,  had  been  the  quiet  accumu- 
lation of  ages. 

Gravel-Lane  terminated  in  George  street.  We 
took  the  latter  which  was  alive  with  drinking 
shops  and  their  customers,  with  sailors  and  their 
sweethearts,  and  divers  other  productions  of  na- 
ture. A  splendidly  fitted  up  saloon  soon  attracted 
our  attention.  Its  dashing  appearance  in  such  a 
spot,  throwing  all  its  brother  buildings  into  the 
shade,  "  E"en  as  the  siin  licks  up  each  sneaking 
star,"  was  not  to  be  mistaken — it  was  a  Gin 
Palace  I  Four  splendid  lamps  were  suspended 
before  the  front.  Although  it  wa'»  but  three 
o'clock  i'  til' afternoon,  it  was  so  e.ttreme'y  foggy 
and  dark  that  all  the  public  lamps  were  lighted, 
and  all  the  stores  glorying  under  a  full  head  of 
gas.  But  the  lamps  of  the  "Palace"  in  (luestion 
outshone  them  all.  They  were  beautiful.  We 
longed  to  enter — certainly  not  to  drink,  for  onr 
beverage  at  ail  times  is  simple  water,  but  to 
gratify  a  morbid  curiosity  of  our  own,  excited  by 
the  marvellous  relations  we  had  heard  upon  such 
subjects.  We  hesitated.  "  Go  m,"  quoth  Curi- 
osity ;  "  'tis  the  part  of  philosophy  to  neglect  no 
opportunity  for  acquiring  knowledge."  "  A 
pretty  picture  you  'd  make  for  home  contempla- 
tion," responded  Prudence;  "  a  W.  P.  in  a  Gin- 
shop,"  would  make  the  fortune  of  any  modern 
Hogarth.  "  So  it  would,"  said  Hefleclion.  "But 
It  is  a  Gin  Palace,"  murmured  Irresolution.  At 
this  moment  one  of  the  three  bronzed  doors 
opened  to  exude  a  glass  of  gin  with  a  ragged  lit- 
tle girl  at  the  end  of  it,  and  a  blaze  of  light  re- 
flected tVoin  glittering  mirrors,  and  a  gorgeous 
polished  marble  counter  with  expensive  brass 
moulding*,  fliishcd  upon  our  face  and  almost 
blinded  us.    We  could  not  <tnnd  this,  so  muster- 


LETTERS. 

ing  up  suincieiit  impuJenco,  wc  piishe<l  the 
painled-glass  door  of  another  entrance,  and 
walked  in  with  all  the  nonchalance  of  a  rabbit 
under  pressing  circumstances 

It  was  a  splendid  place,  that  Palace  of  the  Rum 
Fiend  !  and  his  ministers  were  very  enticing:  in 
appearance.  It  was  a  magnificent  saloon,  wide 
but  not  of  great  depth,  apparently,  though  the  ele- 
gant scarlet  curtains,  looped  over  gilt  lion's 
paws,  that  fell  in  gracel'ul  Iblds  at  the  sides  and 
centre,  concealed  the  rear,  with  the  exception  of 
a  small  aperture  through  which  a  dim  figure  was 
now  and  then  visible  iu  the  distance.  The  ceil- 
ing of  the  saloon  was  tastefully  painted  in  fresco, 
from  groups  of  (lowers  were  hanging  three  sump- 
tuous chandaliers,  the  glass  pendants  of  which  re- 
flected a  world  of  rainbow  hues,  like  dew-drops  in 
the  sunlight,  dancing  around  us.  The  side  walls 
contamed  very  large  mirrors  with  wide  goldea 
frames.  The  floor  was  of  white  and  black  mar- 
ble, tesselated,  and 

"By  many  a  thirsty  pilRrim  worn  away." 
The  bar  was  of  some  dark  wood,  highly  burnish- 
ed and  fancit'ully  carved,  with  Bacchus-heads 
laughing  from  the  pillar-caps  that  supported  the 
Italian  marble  counter.  Two  massive  brass  bars 
that  dazzled  all  human  brass  out  of  countenance, 
kept  the  fingers  of  delirious  worshippers  from 
the  shrines  of  their  idols,  while  in  jetsof  ga.«-light 
were  made  to  appear  on  either  side,  the  cabalistic 
words,  "Booth's  Cordial  Gin" — "White's Cream 
of  the  Valley,"  with  other  equally  affecting  nouns 
and  templing  adjectives. 

Three  "delicious  arrangements  of  flesh  and 
blood,"  in  the  shape  of  young  women,  rather 
well-dressed,  were  stationed  behind  the  bar, 
while  before  it  congregated  the  blind  victims  to 
this  European  Juggernaut,  sacrificing  themselves 
with  a  heroism  that,  in  a  better  cause,  would  win 
them  niches  in  St.  Paul's  or  the  Abbey.  "I  wants 
a  quartern  (a  half  gill)  o'  the  vile  Jemmy,"  said 
a  little  urchin,  urging  his  way  in  with  a  tumbler 
in  one  hand,  and  a  hat  that,  like  the  3rd  Richard, 
had  early  lost  its  crown,  twirling  in  the  other; 
"but  mammy  says  she  hain't  got  no  browns  to- 
day, and  vill  pay  yer  in  the  morning."    "Your 

mammy  be ,"  the  expletive  was  checked  in 

the  mouth  of  the  young  lady  by  a  sud  'en  glance 
at  ourself,  when  with  a  smile  intended  to  be  be- 
witching, she  courteously  desired  to  be  informed 
if  we  would  "take  a  wet,"  if  it  should  be  "hot  or 
cold,"  and  concluding  with  the  intimation  that  she 
had  something  "as  was  fit  for  a  Comm<idore." 
We  replied  with  an  oscillation  of  the  head  that, 
in  America,  is  a  sort  of  a  representative-negative, 
and  retired  with  as  polite  a  bow  as  we  could 
muster  at  the  moment,  leaving  the  women  gazing 
after  us  with  eyes  and  mouth  in  a  state  of  exten- 
sion that  indicated  the  most  profound  astonish- 
ment. 

This  was  a  Gin  Palace.    There  are  .several 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Drury  Lane  of  a  siaiilar 


31 

cliaraoler,  we  are  told,  but  tliey  Itappcncd  not  to 
fall  under  our  observation.  It  is  scarcely  fo  be 
wondered  at,  that  the  poorer  classes,  with  such 
habits  and  such  temptations,  live  here,  too  many 
of  them,  in  a  state  of  Remi-.slarvation,  nor  that 
there  are  800,000  persons  in  London  alone  to- 
tally ignorant  of  the  rudiments  of  a  religious  edu- 
cation. Intemperance  is,  in  truth,  very  common, 
and  with  it  naturally  comos  iho  long  train  of  so- 
cial evils  of  which  it  is  ever  the  fruitful  parent. 
One  distiller  of  English  gin,  Mr.  Booth,  who 
has  a  large  establishment  in  the  suburb  of  Brent- 
ford, pays  to  the  government  in  the  way  of  ex- 
cise duty  or  lax,  an  afinual  sum  of  nearly  two 
millions  of  dollars!  The  amount  of  gin  he  annu- 
ally produces,  and  which  is  but  a  trilling  portion 
of  that  consumed  in  the  metropolis,  may  be  from 
this  conjectured. 

Besides  English  gin,  which  has  a  pungent  and 
peculiar  smell  of  turpentine,  the  use  of  ale,  (or 
beer,  as  it  is  popularly  termed,)  is  universal.  We 
presume  scarcely  a  family  can  be  found  in  Lon- 
don, of  any  means  at  all,  that  is  not  constantly 
furnished  with  its  little  barrel;  and  those  that  are 
not,  are  supplied  by  the  pot-boy,  as  it  is  want- 
ed. It  is  the  common  beverage  instead  of  wa- 
ter, and  is  drunk  at  the  morning  lunch,  at  dinner, 
at  noon-lunch,  and  at  all  times  besides,  when 
thirst  in  either  felt  or  fancied.  It  can  be  had  at 
all  prices,  and  thus  is  made  to  suit  all  pecuniary 
complexions.  Public-houses,  (or  "taverns"  as 
we  call  them  in  America,)  invariably  put  up 
signs  with  "Meu.x's  Entire,"  or  "Fuller  &  Co.'s 
Entire,"  or  some  other  popular  brewer's  "En- 
tire" conspicuously  displayed  upon  them,  to  sig- 
nify that  the  ales  of  such  makers  are  to  be  ob- 
tained there  in  a  "neat"  state,  as  well  as  in  their 
more  ordinary  or  mixed  condition.  Indeed  there 
are  few  who  may  not  say  with  Boniface  in  the 
play,  "I  have  fed  purely  upon  ale:  I  have  eat 
my  ale,  drunk  my  ale,  and  I  always  sleep  upon 

my  ale    strong!  it  must  be  strong,  or  how 

would  I  be  strong  that  drink  it?"  And  it  must  be 
admitted  that  stout,  hale,  hearty  looking  men 
these  Englishmen  are,  in  their  own  country. 
They  degenerate  when  they  forsake  the  smoke- 
clime  of  their  ancient  home. 


At  length  we  found  ourself  in  the  Commercial 
Road;  a  broad,  well-populated  street,  something 
like  the  outer  end  of  the  New  York  "Bowerv  " 
with  a  broad-stone  paved  way  upon  one  siie 
(amid  the  pebble  paving,)  for  wide-wheeled  and 
heavy-laden  wagons  thai  traverse  it  from  Ihe 
London  and  other  docks.  An  omnibus  piissing 
upward  aflbrded  us  a  comfortable  seat,  the  pas- 
sengers giving  us  a  wide  berth,  for  we  resembled 
by  this  time  a  half-drowned  rat,  and  if  we  may 
guess  at  the  "corporal  su(rerance"of  one  of  those 
interesting  animals  in  a  November  storm,  our 
feelings  were  not  much  better.  It  is  a  bore  to 
carry  an  umbrella  anywhere— particularly  foj 
one  who  is  addicted  to  leaving  it  at  the  first  slop- 


32  DU 

ping-place,  and  growing  oblivious  of  the  circum- 
stance— but,  in  the  crowded  streets  of  London 
the  bore  becomes  an  intolerable  nuisance.  We 
prefer  a  thick  coat  and  perfect  independence  of 
hands  and  elbows.  And  then,  what  but  a  drip- 
ping wet  coat  can  provide  you  room  in  an  omni- 
bus? How  the  cat-like  antipathy  to  water  of  your 
companions  makes  them  shrink  into  the  smallest 
possible  circumference,  as  the  raised  nap  of  your 
D'Orsay  glistens  in  the  gas-light,  leaving  you 
impressed  and  snugly  wrapped  up  in  your  dig- 
nity and  your  beaver-cloth,  to  meditate  on  what- 
ever may  chance  you  to  hear  or  happen! 

We  rode  up  past  the  General  Post  O/Rce — a 
commodious  edifice — and  from  there,  such  was 
the  press  of  vehicles,  our  horses  were  compelled 
to  walk  nearly  to  St.  Pauls.  The  frowning  dome 
of  the  latter,  looked  so  black  as  we  passed  it, 
that  we  could  not  help  fancying  it  was  at  the 
thoughts  of  its  origin — for  it  was  completed,  if 
we  remember  rightly  by  means  of  a  tax  laid  on 
coals.  But  on  we  went,  jolting  along  Fleet  street, 
stopping  for  a  moment  to  drop  a  passenger  who 
had  dropped  her  six  pence,  in  front  of  Bow- 
Church,  famous  for  its  bells,  (no  pun  intended,) 
and  then  whizzing  away  through  the  Strand,  until 
St.  Clements  and  St.Martin-in-lhe-field,  seem  to 
shake  their  religious  heads  at  us  and  mutter 
that  we  were  a  little  too  desperate  in  our  expedi- 
tion. And  so  we  were.  In  five  minutes  after- 
wards some  of  the  minutise  of  the  vehicle  gave 
way,  and  down  came  eleven  of  us,  (four  fe- 
males inclusive)  as  the  proverb  says  the  Evil 
One  on  a  certain  day  discovered  somewhere  a 
six  pence,  i.  e.  "all  in  a  heap."  We  had  just 
been  stealing  a  glance  at  the  women's  faces,  and 
wondering  what  sort  of  creatures  they  would 
make  in  the  next  world  with  little  wings  to  their 
plump  shoulders,  and  why,  in  all  the  master  pic- 
tures we  ever  saw,  the  angels  were  always  rep- 
resented as  of  the  masculme  gender:  we  had  just 
cast  an  innocent  look  into  their  eyes,  (a  capital 
volume  to  read  when  you  are  not  detected ,  and  one 
that  will  afford  you  many  a  turned-down  page  of 
human  emotion,  and  many  a  wide  margin  for 
deep  reflection,)  and  were  wondering  whelher 
the  eyes  of  the  Veiled  Prophet's  idolaters  were 
like  these — 

Quick,  restless,  strange,  but  exquisite  withal, 
Like  those  of  angels just  betore  their  fall ! 

when  the  accident  happened.  It  seemed  like  a 
salutary  hint  to  abandon  the  forbidden  subject  of 
magic ;  and  so  gathering  oureelf  up,  we  pedes- 
trianed  to  our  temporary  home,  leaving  the  om- 
nibus and  its  contents  to  the  tender  mercies  of 
the  public  and  the  police,  our  "  bruised  arms" 
being  considerably  unauited,  aa  yet,  for  "monu- 
ments." Du  SOLLE. 


SOLLES 

NO.  xn. 

Letter-writing  in  general  — tlie  theatre— 
Macready— the  new  oppra— its  features— its 
success— new  ballet— new  dancer— hints  on  the 
En<;lish  stage— damnin-^  a  play— hot  drinlig— 
scene  in  an  omnibus,  kc.  ice. 

London,  3  December,  1845. 
Letter-writing  is  a  pleasant  thing  when  health, 
comfort  and  a  humor  for  it,  combine  to  invest  it 
with  super-satisfactory  qualities.  "  And  the  Spiri 
said  unto  John  write,  and  he  did  write:"  this  wouid 
have  been  sufficient  apology  even  had  John  writ- 
ten with  less  inspiration ;  but  it  becomes  a  very  dif- 
ferent affair  when  the  spirit  is  wanting,  and  one 
cannot  froth  up  insipid  small-beer  uniil  the  public 
will  mistake  it  for  the  sparkling  "Thorn,"  or  the 
vivacious  "Anchor"-brand,  nor  so  rub  down  the 
ideal  German-silver,  that  ihe  critical  will  put  it  in 
their  vaults  for  plate.  Letter- writing  is  a  conve- 
nient escape-pipe  for  the  discharge  of  a  young 
traveller's  superfluous  steam.  His  mind,  his 
senses,  all  actively  alive  to  novelty,  at  first  gene- 
rate feelings  and  impressions  that  struggle  valiant- 
ly for  a  ventage,  afier  they  have  exhausted  their 
functionary  performances.  It  is  delightful,  then, 
to  spread  out  on  paper  the  multitudinous  thoughts, 
the  wild  emotions,  the  curious  coincidences  that, 
like  unshrived  spirits,  have  made  one's  soul  their 
abiding  place  ;  but  when  its  repetition  Ijecomes 
a  duty,  and  the  "  thousand  natural  ills  that  flesh 
is  heir  to,"  robs  one  of  the  magic  wand  that  will 
alone  exorcise  those  troublesome  customers  from 
their  secret  hiding-places;  when  one  especially 
feels,  with  Mr.  Pump,  the  would-be  value  of  an 
"  intellectual  figgery-four,"  to  arrest  the  stray 
footsteps  of  such  erratic  ideas  as  are  not  "up  to 
trap,"  in  order  to  pin  them  down,  like  entomo- 
logical subjects,  for  analytical  consideration  ; 
then  the  pleasure  becomes  an  irksome  task — a  ty- 
rant impulse — which,  like  Goethe's  broomstick- 
goblin  over-does  its  work,  and  notwithstanding 
all  your  efforts  to 

" bid  the  busy  th'ng  nttaia 

Its  quiet  broomstick  form  again" 

laughs  at  your  woe,  and  mocks  at  all  your  re- 
cantations. 

So  much  by  way  of  entreating  indulgence  and 
accounting  for  mishaps,  as  young  ladies  prelmle 
with  a  delicate  cough,  and  violins  v/ilh  a  shriek 
upon  A,  that  which  they  are  about  to  sing.  And 
now  for  a  word  theatrical. 

The  drama  is  doing  well  in  London.  Macrea- 
dy has  been  drawing  excellent  houses.  At  Drury 
Lane,  a  new  Opera,  by  W.  V.  Wallace,  well 
known  in  the  United  States  as  a  violinist  and  . 
pianist  of  superior  abilities,  is  attracting  con- 
siderable notice,  and  what  is  better,  respectably 
filled  houses.  The  story  is  founded  upon  that  of  •■ 
Don  Ciesar  de  Bazan,  an  interesting  piece  from 
the  French. 

We  sat  out  the  first  act  of  this  opera  the  other 
night,  and  we  conceive  that  it  is  really  a  produc- 


LETTERS. 


33 


lion  ol  mucli  iiierii.  We  observe  iliai  severa\ 
musical  critics  here  reliably  comi)eteut  to  tU'cide 
upon  llie  subject,  coincide  willi  us  in  ihis  impres- 
sion. As  Mr.  Wallace  is  an  Irishman,  this 
judgment  on  the  part  ol'  Englisli  professors  may 
be  considered  satisfactory  and  impartial.  The 
overture  is  rather  unfinished.  The  opening  chorus 
is  a  pretty  tune  in  F  major,  Marilana's  song  Ibl- 
lows  with  a  full  share  of  Spanish  melody,  picked 
up  by  Mr.  W.  no  doubt  in  Mexico.  The  second 
song  of  the  Gipsey  girl  is  a  delicious  one,  and  is 
embellished  with  an  obligato  accompaniment  for 
the  harp,  which  is  both  singular  and  agreeable. 
A  subsequent  duett  between  Don  Jose  and  Mari- 
tana,  merits  encomium.  The  cavatina,  by  Don 
CiTJsar,  wild  and  vigorous  in  its  melody,  with  an 
accompaniment  a  la  holtro,  is  also  striking. 
The  gem,  however,  of  the  first  act  is,  in  our  poor 
opinion,  a  chorus  and  concerted  piece  beginning 
"Pretty  Gitana  tell  us,"  tVc.  The  melody  of  the 
chorus  is  quaint  and  eflective,  and  Maritana's 
solos  charmmgly  varied,  and  skilfully  introduced. 
The  brilliant  aria  by  the  latter  in  E  major,  de- 
lighted us  particularly,  and  we  were  pleased  to 
find  it  unanimously  encored.  The  finale  is  very 
good,  though  the  instrumentation,  to  our  ear,  was 
rather  boisterous. 

We  dropped  in,  afterwards,  at  the  Adelphia,  a 
theatre  somewhat  after,  (or  vice  versa)  the 
fashion  of  Mitchell's  New  York  Olympic.  It  is 
managed  by  Madame  Celeste  with  great  success 
and  consummate  tact,  and  she  is  ably  supported 
by  Mrs.  Fitzwilliams.  Buckstone's  stupid  play 
of  "Green  Bushes"  was  on,  and  we  should  have 
been  off,  but  that  we  desired  to  witness  a  bur- 
lesque on  a  new  ballet  which  we  had  just  beheld 
at  ''old  Urury,'"  where,  by  the  way,  we  were 
delighted  with  Mademoiselle  Flora  Fabri,  whose 
dancing  was  exquisite,  and  who  is  said  to  be  fully 
equal  to  Cerito. 

In  "Green  Bushes,"  Mrs.  Fitzwilliams  was 
touchingly  pathetic  Two  comic  geniuses  con- 
trived, in  the  same  piece,  to  keep  the  audience  in 
a  roar  by  interpolating  very  "ancient  and  fish- 
like" jests,  and  exclaiming  "I  believe  you  m- 
^y,"  with  a  singular  drawl.  We  glanced  at  the 
light  moustache  and  lavender  gloves  of  the  gen- 
tleman of  the  press  who,  at  home,  is  so  well- 
known  by  the  latter  appellation.  He  was  in  an 
adjacent  box,  and  it  struck  us  that,  in  future,  he 
would  be  apt  to  eschew  a  so  vulgarised  cogno- 
men. 

The  burlcscjne  was  called  "Taming  the  Tartar, 
or  Magic  and  Mazourkaphobia."  It  was  beauti- 
fully gotten  up,  and  went  off  superbly.  Celeste 
acquitting  herself  with  her  usual  skill,  and  a 
Miss  Woolgar  representing  a  feminine  cream-of- 
tartar  in  the  shape  of  a  countess,  with  delight- 
ful spirit,  force  and  vivacity.  This  ballet  would 
become  very  popular  in  America. 

On  the  whole  we  have  been  sadly  ditiappoint 
ed  with  the  English  stage,    it  may  seem  like  pre- 


judice to  say  so,  but  we  consrieiiliously  declare 
that  we  have  seen  here  no  better  performers, 
and  very  few  as  good,  as  those  attached  to  the 
better  theatres  at  home.  Farren  is  extremely 
good  as  a  comedian,  but  see  him  once  and  you 
have  seen  him  forever.  He  is  very  much  the 
same  in  all  characters.  It  is  Mr.  Farren  through- 
out. Burton  has  no  equal  in  London  on  the 
boards,  nor  can  wo  find  any  one  to  surpass  Chip- 
pendale in  a  certain  line.  Helen  Faucit  is  un- 
doubtedly an  actress  of  talent,  but  far  below  what 
we  expected  to  discover.  We  liave  visited  nine 
out  of  the  fifteen  theatres  at  present  open,  and 
putting  aside  Macready,  Anderson,  Wallack  and 
one  or  two  others  familiar  to  us  on  both  sides  of 
the  Atlantic,  the  male  performers  rank  from  me- 
diocrity down  to  insignificance.  After  those  we 
have  named,  there  is  not  a  general  actor  here  who 
upon  the  platform  of  usefulness  and  ability,  ranks 
with  either  Wheatlcy,  Wallack,  Jr.  or  Davenport. 
Among  the  ladies  the  same  paucity  of  excellence 
exists-  Miss  Faucit  is  transcended  by  Charlotte 
Cushman.  After  her  come  a  host  of  creditable 
actresses,  but  creditable  only — not  one  approach- 
ing Mrs.  Wallack,  Jr.,  who  is  surpassed  by  sev- 
eral now  whom,  but  we  have  no  desire  to  insti- 
tute invidious  comparisons,  we  could  name  upon 
the  American  stage. 

Great  attention  is  paid  to  scenery,  costumes, 
properties,  &c.,  at  most  of  the  theatres  in  London. 
It  strikes  the  eye  of  a  stranger  as  very  curious  to 
see  the  pit  wear  an  air  so  respectable.  Families 
in  middling  circumstances,  such  as  would  be 
shocked  at  the  bare  idea,  in  America,  of  being 
seen  out  of  the  boxes,  may  be  beheld  here  very 
comfortably  seated  in  the  pit,  which  custom  has 
invested  with  no  disparaging  associations.  Be- 
fore the  play  begins,  bills  of  the  performances  are 
carried  around  the  house  for  sale,  frequently  by 
women,  the  price  being,  we  believe,  a  penny, 
and  none  being  furnished  the  audience,  as  with 
us,  gratuitously.  Between  the  acts,  oranges,  and 
other  fruit,  are  vended  in  a  similar  manner ; 
while,  in  the  gallery,  (around  the  outside  of  the 
railing  of  which  bonnets,  muffs,  Arc,  are  suspend- 
ed for  safe-keeping  by  those  in  the  vicinity,)  con- 
versations intended  for  the  ears  of  the  whole 
house,  are  often  carried  on,  of  a  curious  charac- 
ter. The  boxes  are  by  no  means  well  arranged. 
You  sit  tmcomfortably  in  them,  you  scarcely 
know  why.  Some  of  the  private  boxes  are  an 
exception  to  this  rule,  and  are  pleasant  enough. 
Let  us  add  that  every  theatre  here  is  fitted  up  with 
some  conveniences  that  are  utterly  unknown  in 
America. 

Speaking  of  the  theatre  reminds  us  that  Leo- 
pold de  Meyer  has  gone  to  the  United  States. 
He  bears  the  reputation  hero  of  being  one  of  the 
greatest  pianists  living.  Many  good  judges  es- 
teem him  as  superior  to  Lizst.  This  again  re- 
minds us  of  Mr.  Fiey's  Opera  of  Leonora.  We 
brought  out  some  copies  of  its  published  "gems," 

E 


34  DU 

and  gave  them  to  one  or  two  eminent  musical 
friends.  We  shall  not  say  what  were  their  ex- 
clamations when,  after  seating  themselves  at  the 
piano,  they  dashed  off  the  first  few  bars  of  each 
composition  The  author,  may  possibly  remem- 
ber Dante's  description  of  Ugolino's  pastime  in 
spirit-land,  "I  beheld  two  spirits  in  the  ice,"  &c. 
We  need  say  no  more.  We  presume  Leonora 
will  be  brought  over  the  coming  Spring,  and  we 
will  not  anticipate  its  reception.  If  successful , 
the  composer  will  have  reason  to  be  proud,  (for 
the  prejudice  against  every  thing  American  is 
unmistakably  coyennish  here,)  and  if  otherwise, 
it  will  be  perditioned  with  a  concentrated  and  in- 
tense heartiness  with  which  we  at  home  are  any- 
thing but  familiar. 

The  independence  of  the  audience  at  the  thea- 
tres in  London,  is  maintained  with  a  zeal,  and 
sometimes  with  a  humor,  quite  remarkable  to  an 
alien.  It  is  the  very  licentiousness  of  liberty. — 
Every  one  appears  disposed  to  play  the  popular 
tyrant,  and  reflect  upon  the  ministers  of  the 
drama  the  petty  despotism  which  he  is  himself 
compelled  to  endure,  out  of  doors,  in  a  more  com- 
prehensive circle.  A  dull  performance,  there- 
fore, meets  with  no  mercy.  We  were  at  the 
Hay-market  theatre  one  night  on  the  occasion  of 
the  production  of  a  vapid  novility,  and  such  a 
scene !  "  I  say  Jack,  here's  a  precious  go?" 
shouted  one  of  the  deities  in  the  gallery.  "  My 
hyes!"  ejaculated  a  second,  in  the  midst  of 
a  pause  in  a  speech  intended  to  be  full  of  pa- 
thos, "  my  hyes !  but  this  is  tea-potish.  Give 
that  ere  voman  a  vipe."  "  Off,  off,  off,"  screamed 
a  dozen,  at  a  lamentable  "stick"  of  two  of 
the  performers  who  had  suddenly  grown  obli- 
vious of  the  dialogue,  and  could  not  catch  the 
words  of  the  prompter.  "Off!  all  of  you;  off, 
all — "roared  a  stentor.  "  Yes,  it  is  awful ;"  mur- 
mured a  more  modest  crowd  Then  came  cat- 
calls, screams,  laughs,  and  shrieks  of  "  Run  old 
gouty" — "vip  up  little  'un" — "  Two  to  one  on 
the  long  tail" — "  Whorray! — ha  !-^ha  ! — hiss — s 
— s — s"  &c.,  until  the  curtain  dropped  in  a  cha- 
otic chorus,  that  might  have  aflbrded  a  character- 
istic idea  for  his  "  Creation." 

The  usual  procedure,  after  an  adjournment 
from  the  theatre  and  preparatory  to  retiring  for 
the  night  is  supper  and  something  hot  to  drink. 
We  have  seen  some  beautiful  ice,  clear  as  crys- 
tal, exposed  for  sale,  in  the  Strand  or  High  Hol- 
born,  (pronounced  J/o'-born)  we  forget  which,  at 
an  enormous  price,  but  we  fancy  it  is  in  little  de- 
mand, as  the  English  generally,  are  as  fond  as  the 
ancient  Romans  or  modern  Chinese  of  warm 
drinks.  The  latter  nation,  we  know,  labor  under 
the  ridiculous  impression  that  all  cold  liquids, 
even  pure  water,  are  calculated  to  occasion  dis- 
ease, and  the  former,  we  have  seen  it  stated 
somewhere,  must  have  had  shops  fitted  up  for  the 
sale  of  warm  indulgences,  for  a  number  of  "Ther- 
mopolia"  have  been  disembowelled  from  the 
earth  at  Pompeii  with  all  the  paraphernalia  of 


SOLLE'S 

I    urns,  metallic  liealers  and  cocks,  &:c.,  like  our 

tea  and  coffee  urns. 
{  So  .lohn  Bull  has,  at  any  rate,  a  precedent  of 
•  antiquity  for  his  taste,  to  say  nothing  of  the  pal- 
pable justice  of  taking  something  from  the  sub- 
j  jecis  of  the  Brother  of  the  Moon  and  Celestial  Re- 
gulator, besides  a  few  millions  of  dirty  bullion, 
wellearned  in  teaching  that  headstrong  nation^the 
mysterious  and  subtle  relationship  exLsting  fje 
tween  the  use  of  opium  and  the  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity— as  understood  by  British  philanthropists. 
This  fondness  for  heated  decoctions  runs  to  an 
amusing  extreme  sometimes:  we  saw  "hot 
Sherry  Cobblers"  advertised  the  other  day.  and 
we  should  not  be  surprised  if  an  "American 
Mint  .lulep — boiling"  were  next  to  be  served  up 
as  a  specimen  of  Yankee  bai  barism,  for  the  idea 
of  a  refrigerating  drink  would  scarcely  be  tole- 
rated among  the  unlravellf-d  deuizens  of  London 

After  the  theatre  we  started  for  our  lodgings. 
As  it  was  pluvious,  as  usual,  we  took  an  omni- 
bus, squeezing  ourself  in  as  the  thirteenth  pas- 
senger, and  listening  complacently  to  the  sup- 
pressed maledictions  of  those  who,  no  doubt, 
would  have  felt  more  at  ease  without  us,  and 
wished  us,  in  consequence,  in  a  climate,  with  the 
thermo  sulphuric  properties  of  which,  certain 
modern  theob  gists  take  good  care  to  keep  the 
public  mind  well  acquainted. 

"La,  sir,"  simpered  a  lady,  the  moment  the 
omnibus  in  starling  had  shaken  us  down  to  with- 
in a  few  inches  of  our  seat;  "La,  sir,  you  are 
sitting  on  my  Polka."  A  "Polka,"  be  it  under- 
stood is  the,  at  present,  fashionable  short  species 
of  coat,  usually  of  black  silk,  with  an  extremity. 
We  apologize  of  course. 

"Zounds,  sir,  are  you  aware  that  there  are 
such  things  as  corms?"  blustered  a  testy  old  gen- 
tleman upon  our  other  side,  in  a  tone  anything 
but  'queslion'-able.  A  duplicate  apology  suc- 
ceeded; and  our  comlbrt  tliat  had  "stuck  out  a 
foot,"  was  dinTinished  by  some  inches.  We  be- 
gan to  amuse  ourself  by  turning  up  the  straw 
with  our  cane,  in  the  hope  of  forgetting  our  pain- 
ful position. 

"1  beg  your  pardon  sir,"  said  a  thin,  harsh 
voice,  emanating  from  a  small  bundle  vis-a-vis 
to  us,  out  of  the  upper  end  of  which  projected 
only,  as  far  as  we  could  discern,  a  nose  like  a 
razor,  and  a  pair  of  Tabby  optics  full  of  unchari- 
table intelligence:  "I  beg  your  pardon,  sir,  liut 
that  is  one  of  iny  goloshe's  you  are  making  free 
with." 

A  "golosh,"  is  an  over-shoe.  We  carefully 
replaced  it,  with  ajjologv  number  three,  to  which 
we  distinctly  heard  a  sotlo  voce  "nasty  brute!" 
from  the  bundle  aforesaid,  in  token  of  acknow- 
ledgement. 

In  despair,  we  stared  out  of  the  window,  and 
diverted  ourself  by  expending  our  spleen  on  the 
badfitting  coats  and  strapless  pantaloons  of  the 
"aicu  about  towu"  who  chanced  to  pass  us  in 


the  blaze  of  some  of  ihe  shop  gas-liglils.  We 
were  just  thinking  what  a  sensation  Ihe  "Car- 
penters" of  Philadelphia  would  create,  were  they 
here,  to  inspire  with  their  skill  and  genius,  a 
taste  for  elegance  in  ihe  figure  and  make  of  the 
garments  masculine  of  London.  We  doubt  if 
Stultz,  in  his  palmy  days,  could  ever  clothe  the 
human  form  with  that  surpassing  tact,  that  ad- 
mirable je  ue  sais  (juoi,  which  distinguishes  the 
work  of  those  celebrated  artistes,  the  Messrs.  C. 
We  were  criticising  Ihe  habits  of  the  men,  lis- 
tening to  the  tramp!  tramp!  of  the  pattens  of  ihe 
women,  and  wondering,  as  the  Post  Boy  in  his 
red  livery  and  little  red-cart  flew,  by,  whether 
the  impatient  crowd  made  way  for  him  as  a  re- 
presenlative  of  her  Majesty,  or  from  a  social 
respect  for  his  calling,  when  a  nudge  from  an 
umbrella  on  our  left  side  almost  deprived  us  of 
breath,  and  the  fair  wearer  of  the  Polka  we  had 
disarranged,  looking  into  our  face,  said,  "Catha- 
rine St.,  if  you  please,"  and  pointed  to  the  con- 
ductor. At  first  we  were  stupidly  confused,  and 
then  representing  the  lady's  wish,  in  the  proper 
direction,  llie  vehicle  slopped,  and  calling  "Cu- 
pid! Cupidl"  she  snatched  up  a  trowsered  deity 
in  the  shape  of  a  candy-faced  urchin,  and  left  us 
plenty  of  room  and  infinite  satisfaction.  But 
what  a  name  for  her  son!  It  reminded  us  of  a 
P.  S.  to  one  o(  the  old  letters  of  the  proraplu  of 
Drury-Lane  theatre,  to  his  brother  promplu  of 
Covent  Garden:  "Send  us  a  Cupid — ours  has  got 
the  measles." 

We   begaa  now,  like    Daniel  Webster,    to 


LETTERS.  35 

"breathe  freer  and  deeper,"  but  wo  caught  a 
glance  of  the  Tabby-eyes  opposite,  and  our  spi- 
rits sunk  down  like  railway  stock  on  pay-morn- 
ing. Somehow,  we  always  had  an  antipathy  for 
small  sharp  wine  and  small  sharp  women.  We 
looked  again  at  the  eyes,  and  caught  ourself  ask- 
ing ourrelf  if  their  owner  could  be  married? 
Alas!  we  were  afraid  so,  for  there  was  an  air  of 
enalignant  satisfaction  about  them  that  seemed  to 
say  they  had  some  poor  victim  at  home  to  mag- 
netise with  iheir  cold  greyness,  and  teach,  after 
Love's  carnival,  all  Ihe  desagremens  of  the  "dis- 
mal Lent  of  marriage."  Egad!  he  must  be  a 
happy  specimen  ol  humanity.  When  he  goes 
home  o'nights,  how  the  Ibotstepa  of  his  wor- 
shipped one  must  ring  musically  in  his  ears!  and 
her  fingers  seem,  like  the  beloved  in  the  Canti- 
cles, to  drop  "with  sweet  smelling  myrrh  upon 
the  handles  of  Ihe  lock"  to  give  him  admission! 


Ugh!  the  thought  was  petrifying,  and  we  put 
our  cane  down  with  a  force  that  iiiadothc  uncon- 
scious subject  of  our  reverie  .shrink  .<.  iih  appre- 
hension. Here  we  introduced  apoict-':  number 
four,  and  we  did  it  with  particular  piiasuie,  be- 
cause her  huge  plaid  shawl  dropping  ofi",  we  dis- 
covered her  to  have  a  rather  interesting  counte- 
nance, and  that  the  Tabby-eyes  which  annoyed 
us  were  a  pair  of  horn  spectacles. 

We  protested  that  we  never  would  permit 
vagrant  fancy  to  play  us  such  a  trick  again,  and 
descending  from  the  omnibus,  we  sought  our 
home  and  resigned  ourself  to  dreams  of  our  native 
country.  Du  Solle. 


ll 


Oaylord  Bros 

Makers 
Syracuse,  N.  Y. 
PAT.  JAN.  2t,  1908 


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